From Wall Street to Montana
Jaysen McCleary spent over a decade on Wall Street — Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and Bear Stearns — predicting markets and managing risk at the highest levels. After watching his mother die from leukemia, he decided to put his talents to work in an area that felt more meaningful. As he drove around the West, when he came to Montana, it felt like the home he always wanted. The American bison has always been close to his heart, and he believed they deserved a sanctuary — where they could just be bison. He started by saving a couple of rejected babies: Tansy, Allie, and Ray.
What started with a handful of rescued bison grew into the first dedicated bison sanctuary on Earth — a place where animals rescued from slaughter, rodeo exploitation, and certain death as rejected orphans live out their natural lives on open rangeland beneath the mountains of Montana. Not a reserve. Not a range. A sanctuary — where injured animals see a veterinarian, not a rifle.
Bison are highly intelligent, wildly athletic, and dangerous. They can jump a six-foot wall running uphill and can kill a person with a single motion. They live for approximately thirty-five years. And each one has an extremely distinct personality. They form friendships, have a sense of humor, and hold grudges. The matriarch of this herd was born with a deformed neck. She waddles when she walks. But everyone knows she's the smartest one on the property. She also happens to be the friendliest bison on the property. The herd chose intelligence over strength, but they bring both.
Jay lives among the herd. He feeds them by hand. They come when he calls. The bond between a man and a two-thousand-pound animal built on nothing but love and respect — and from that, trust is earned.
