A small herd of cows escaped from DuMond’s Windy Knoll Farm in Ray Brook Wednesday, surprising cross-country skiers and leading to a State Police cow hunt. All 13 escapees were back on the farm by the evening. (Provided photo — Susan Hahn)

RAY BROOK — State troopers searched the woods Wednesday for around a dozen escapees — not inmates from either of the two prisons in this hamlet, but Hereford cattle from DuMond’s Windy Knoll Farm on Raybrook Road.

The runaway cows utterly shocked a pair of cross-country skiers who came upon them. That sent troopers on a brief cow hunt, but the beasts were back home on the farm in time for a meal.

“There’s 31 of them down in the barn enjoying supper right now,” farmer Craig DuMond said at 6:30 p.m.

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Mooove along

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DuMond said the wayward cows made their way back on their own.

“They seem to have a good sense of direction,” he said.

DuMond said once they were close, a bucket of grain helped incentivize them to come back to the farm. He removed a section of a fence and drove them back in.

“They were tuckered out,” he said. “They weren’t anxious to do it. I think they had a pretty good run for the day.”

He thought they were all back, but more showed up.

“I thought I counted them all when I put six of them back in, and then a friend of mine came in with seven more,” DuMond said.

DuMond said a log fell on an electrified three-strand enclosure, creating enough of a gap for the cows to walk over the fence.

He used a chainsaw to cut the log and said the high-tensile steel fence popped right back up into place.

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Strange en-cow-nter

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Diane Bryjak and Susan Hahn said they came across the cows at around 1:30 p.m. while skiing along a trail connected to the railroad tracks between Ray Brook and Saranac Lake.

Hahn believes the cows left the farm and followed the railroad tracks to a trail leading to Oseetah Lake, where they came face-to-face with them.

“We came around a curve and came right up to them,” Bryjak said. “We were way too close to one another. It really frightened them.”

“There was a whole lot of cows,” Hahn said.

Bryjak said she was not scared; she grew up on a farm in Montana. Still, she was shocked to see them walking down the trail.

The cows were heading toward the lake, and behind them was state Route 86.

Bryjak and Hahn moved into the woods to let the cows pass, away from the road, but the herd was still wary.

“There was a long standoff while we looked at each other,” Hahn wrote in a Facebook post.

Suddenly, the herd turned around and ran. Bryjak and Hahn called 911.

Shortly after, they ran into two state troopers who were out searching for the runaways.

“The troopers were so nice. They were laughing, too,” Hahn said.

Bryjak was relieved to hear the cows made it back to the farm safely.

“There’s nothing worse for farmers than their cows getting out of the fence,” Bryjak said. “It just brought back memories of my dad getting so frustrated if he had a hole in the fence and the cows were getting out.”

Hahn said she was glad Bryjak was there.

“It’s not every day you see cows when you’re out cross-country skiing,” Hahn said.

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Online reaction to bovine infraction

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Discussion about the cows kicked off on the Saranac Lake Neighbor Helping Neighbor Facebook page when a user asked about why troopers were seen walking into the woods at the railroad tracks.

Hahn explained and posted her picture of the cows.

Within an hour someone had Photoshopped Bernie Sanders into the picture, sitting in a chair — a popular meme stemming from the Vermont senator’s attire at the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration.

Others were concerned about the cows’ lack of trail etiquette.

“Hope that they didn’t post-hole the trail! We’ve planned an outing there tomorrow,” Peter Seward wrote.