Matt Skoglund’s rubber boots are shredded. A previous attempt at holding the rips together with sealant is now yellowed and peeling. Blood is smeared across the rear door handle of his white flatbed pickup. Inside the truck cab, on the floor, rests a small tangle of curly brown bison hair.
Born and raised in suburban Chicago, Matt seems an unlikely candidate for the role of bison rancher, but at the age of 41 the one-time lawyer and former Bozeman environmental group director has fully embraced his new career in all of its glory and messiness.
“I craved doing something on my own and more tangible that was rooted here in southwest Montana, that would have a conservation ethos to it but entrepreneurial — a business, not a nonprofit,” he said, a wide smile spreading amid his bushy, gray-streaked beard. “I’m trying to make the world a better place.”
So in 2018, after a year of intense research, he overcame his “giant insecurity” about knowing nothing about ranching and leapt into the lifestyle head-first. In the process he also took out a second mortgage on his home, borrowed money from his retirement plan and obtained bank loans. The money financed the purchase of land on the east side of the Bridger Mountains and the bison to graze it.
“The funny thing is, I don’t know why, but it hasn’t been scary,” said Sarah Skoglund, Matt’s wife. “It’s always felt like it’s been too right to be scary.”...
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