Buffed up at the Beach (with repost)

I had a business trip to Salt Lake City this week and since my meetings were short I took the big boy camera along instead of just a point and shoot. I spent one unimpressive sunset at Albion Basin and another evening on Antelope Island.
I was attracted to this image initially because of the layers and was fortunate to have one of the bison bulls wander into the scene. Not sure I've ever seen a Buff at the Beach before.

#2 Coming down the road from Albion Basin I ran across this guy. It was nearly dark so I had to crank up the ISO. Please excuse the noise.

And yes, there were some flowers.

Nice set, Bill.

Good catch. I didn't know they had buffalo roaming Antelope Island !

Always great getting some productive photography time during a business trip.

I really like how you placed the bison here, Bill. I wonder if you might consider cropping the top down to just below the levee (?) in the lake, leaving just three primary layers to enjoy.
Also, a pretty nice moose portrait!

Thanks for the comments and kind words. @John M. Here is a repost using John's suggestion of cropping the top. Frankly, I like them both. The larger version give a sense of place but the cropped version is a bit cleaner. I also popped a little more contrast into the cropped version. Thanks for the suggestion John. Now I have to decide which one to print.....

"The larger version give a sense of place but the cropped version is a bit cleaner.

Exactly!
I hope you get a few more opinions here, Bill.

Nice set of images. I think I prefer the cropped buff, as it seems to keep the attention on the animal. As for the noisy moose- I wish my noise was that clean.

I strongly prefer the crop. YMMV, but I usually prefer a cleaner composition.

Preference to the cropped version and three bands of color. On your original version, did the increased contrast sap some detail from the bison (or am I just noticing web compression)?

Interesting set, Bill--thanks for sharing!