Hesston and Stetson Fry knew they had found something cool when they each discovered animal skulls while fishing. It turns out that they are bison skulls and are at least 150 years old- and they could possibly be thousands of years old.
Hesston found his recently in the Washita River east of Cordell, and Stetson found his last summer along Boggy Creek near Bessie. The boys are avid fisherman and adventurers, and their mom Heidi says they spend most of their time outside, either fishing, hunting or exploring.
Bison are one of the oldest living species, existing since the Paleolithic Age. They were a major source of food and warmth during the Stone Age. When Columbus came to America in 1492, there were approximately 30 million bison wandering the plains.
However, in the late 1800s these bison were almost entirely driven to extinction with less than 1,000 individual animals remaining. This was mostly a result of the U.S. government’s actions after the Civil War. They tried to eliminate the bison as a method of controlling the Native American population. The last wild buffalo was killed in Cimarron County, Oklahoma in 1890. Preservation efforts have re-established a few herds in the present day which live in refuges, such as the one in the Wichita Mountains.
The skulls that the Fry boys found were most likely preserved by the sand in the riverbed. It is uncertain whether they ended up there as a result of being slaughtered or due to a natural death. Most likely if the animals had been killed by Native Americans, their skulls would not have been complete because the tribes made use of every bit of the carcass, including the horns, which could have been used to carry gunpowder or arrow points, or as a scooping tool. Bison often died when trying to cross frozen rivers when the ice collapsed under their weight. Many skulls have been found throughout the years in Oklahoma riverbeds and banks.
The only certain way to know exactly how old these treasures are is through carbon dating, which would cost hundreds of dollars. Regardless of the age, they are great keepsakes and a reminder of a majestic animal that once roamed free.