“We do our best to get them out of play, or haze the bison into areas where they won’t be an issue with the golfers,” says Jeff Jenson, assistant superintendent for the Jackson, Wyo., golf course. “Ultimately, our motto is ‘wildlife has the right-of-way.’ “

Golfers and staff at Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club in Jackson, Wyo., encounter an unusual wildlife hazard almost every spring—wild bison, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported.

The animals are sometimes seen in herds numbering in the dozens, migrating onto the course’s 278 acres. The shaggy, sometimes irritable one-ton animals made themselves at home on the property as recently as a week ago, said Jeff Jenson, the course assistant superintendent.

“It’s usually just a few, but this year we had about three dozen or so for a day or two,” Jenson said. “We do our best to get them out of play, or haze the bison into areas where they won’t be an issue with the golfers. The damage they can do to the greens is the main maintenance headache for us.”

The course is near Grand Teton National Park and also the National Elk Refuge. When the bison become particularly troublesome the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is asked to drop by and encourage the beasts to move along, the News & Guide reported.

There have been three “hazing” operations at Golf and Tennis this year that Game and Fish spokesman Mark Gocke had heard of, the News & Guide reported.

“It’s something that we generally deal with every year,” Gocke said. “As they come off the refuge, bison tend to find their way to the Gros Ventre River and move on down toward those private lands. Elk do it, too.

“Bison tend to present a little more of a threat, so we try to keep them not only out of Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis, but away from the homes there for human safety.”

Bison are dangerous, of course, and the safety of customers is the first priority for managers of the course. Golfers, especially those on foot, are urged to be to be vigilant when the herd is near, Golf & Tennis spokesman Levi Thorn said.

Animals that are in the way can usually be convinced to retreat with foreign sounds or sights, such as the crinkling of a trashbag or the greens being watered, the News & Guide reported.

“Sprinklers tend to scare them off, too,” Jenson said.

Because Golf & Tennis isn’t lined by high fences—and butts up to the national park, the refuge and the Snake River corridor—errant wildlife wandering onto the course is probably unavoidable. Per company policy, it’s also accepted, the News & Guide reported.

“Ultimately, our motto is ‘wildlife has the right-of-way,’ ” Jenson said. “The pace of play seems to be an issue sometimes, but nobody really seems to care because of the thrill of it.”