Buffalo, as humongous as they appear to be are just the opposite. They hop six foot fences as easy as a cat does.
I have worked around cattle and around buffalo. Buffs can jump a fence, but when the wind blows, and especially when there is a blowing blizzard, they put their heads down and walk into the wind. If they come to a fence, they simply bulldoze right on through it like it wasnt even there.
The thing that I’m not seeing here is, how much property did the dude have? The AP is calling him a rancher, but he has a luxury vacation home there and the buffs put hair on his satellite dish? This sounds to me like the dude has a piece of land big enough to build a house on, maybe a couple acres..............if that is the case, then it is certainly a misnomer to refer to him as a rancher. My gut feeling is that the dude has no livestock as he is a cyber geek of some sort. He is what we call a Rexall Cowboy, all hat and no cattle...... :)
I am going to email some friends up there and see if they know just how much land the dude has. I bet it doesnt qualify as a ranch.