The Antelope Island State Park bison roundup is set for Oct. 25, and with it will be the Roundup Rendezvous festival.

Riders will begin to round up bison around Fielding Garr Ranch at around 9 a.m. before pushing the herd toward the corrals on the north side of the island.

Antelope Island State Park Manager Doranne Pittz told the Standard-Examiner that the annual roundup is crucial to sustaining a healthy bison herd on the island.

“We have about 750-800 bison on the island and we need to cull the herd down to 500-550 so that way it’s a sustainable herd size for the island’s resources,” she said. “Every October, we do an annual bison roundup where we have people come out and help us round up all of the bison and bring them into the corrals so they can go through the working, get their vaccines and pregnancy checks and then cull the herd from there.”

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

She said the roundup tends to bring around 3,000-4,000 people to the island each year to view the spectacle.

As a testament to the popularity of the event, Antelope Island State Park put out a call on Facebook for range riders to help in rounding up and corralling the bison on Monday. Despite Monday being a holiday, all 200 slots were taken within an hour, according to Pittz, and an extensive waitlist of riders has built up since then.

However, the public is still very much invited to come and watch the roundup.

“We also have our Roundup Rendezvous — we call it, ‘The Party on the Island,'” she said. “It’s got lots of different booths from educational booths to face painting. You can even ride a unicorn and eat some good food from different food trucks. This is going on while the cowboys and cowgirls are rounding up the bison on the east side, and it’s located right at the spot where the bison come up and over for the final push into the corrals. Once those bison start peaking over the ridge, we make a big announcement so everybody goes to the bleachers — we call them the grandstands — and watches that final push of the bison into the corrals.”

The Roundup Rendezvous will be located around the White Rock Bay section of the park. Pittz said the Roundup Rendezvous is expanding this year with additional booths and vendors. Additionally, she reminds everyone to bring water and sun protection.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

The bison have usually been corralled by around noon-3 p.m. during past roundups, but the public is reminded that bison are wild animals with no inclination to follow human schedules, thus making the exact timing of roundup events hard ot predict.

Another popular way to watch the roundup has been traveling along the road on the island’s east side to get a view of the roundup as it happens.

However, Pittz said there will be a massive change to this starting with this year’s roundup.

“You are still able to watch the roundup on the east side road,” she said. “However, this year, we are beginning to cap the number of vehicles that are able to access that east side road for the day-of. That’s for safety reasons for our visitors, the herd and riders as well.”

She said the cap will be around 500 vehicles allowed on the east side of the island.

Grace Watters, Standard-Examiner

“This year, the earlier they arrive, the more opportunity they would have to secure a spot,” she said. “Once we hit that number, we are going to be closing it down.”

Once the roundup is over, there will still be opportunities for the public to get up close to the island’s bison herd.

“The bison are rounded up on Saturday the 25th,” Pittz said. “Then we let them rest in the corrals for just a couple of days. We start the working on Tuesday … and then we work them for the next three days. We get every bison through the chute on the 28th, 29th, 30th, and that is open to the public. We’ll have tours being run by volunteers and our park naturalist kind of explaining the process as an animal makes their way through the chutes and explain about what we’re looking for and how it’s all done. Then they can sit and enjoy watching the people at work.”

Following the working of the bison will be an auction of several of the bison, details of which will be released at a later date, to bring the herd to a more stable number.

For more information, visit https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/antelope-island/bison-roundup/.