VAUGHN — A bison harvest is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that recently became a reality for Great Falls and Helena students.
Giving these students an opportunity for cultural and agricultural education, Blackfeet organizers asked MTN to film during the ceremony to help educate the public.
"We are taking this animal's life, but this animal is also going to be providing life," said Larry Ground, a Blackfeet elder.
Students and community members gathered at Big Sky Bison near Vaughn.
Burning cedar and sage, smoking tobacco, singing traditional songs, and painting the gun and knives used to harvest the animal, Blackfeet elders held a traditional pipe ceremony to offer prayers before the kill.
A ceremony like this shows the perseverance of Indigenous culture and honors the bison as a sacred animal, which was nearly eradicated as white settlers moved west.
"When we go out to hunt, the animals will present themselves outside of the herd, and that's the one that we're taking today. That's that whole cultural, spiritual connection to the animals and being able to go out there," said Dugan Coburn, the director of Indian education for all at Great Falls Public Schools.
"I'll probably never experience something like this again, so I'm just super excited, especially since I grew up more urban than others," said Kathleen Picken, president of the All Nations Youth Leadership Council at Capitol High School.
Michael Botha, the owner of the ranch, shot and killed the bison.
Afterward, he brought it back to the gutting location, where students got hands-on experience, learning about its organs and how each part of the animal can be used.
"A lot of kids have never seen where their meat comes from," Botha said. "They've seen it come from the grocery store. They haven't seen it come from the field to their table, and they've just experienced that right now."
Once the bison was skinned, a culinary instructor from Helena Public Schools cooked a piece of its meat with some of her students, and attendees could try the fresh meat.
Every part of the bison will be used and taken to Helena for continued learning.
Old Salt Union will process the meat. Helena Public Schools chemistry students will learn how to tan the hide, the bones will be used for a variety of tools and art, and the organs will be used during a biology dissection lab.
"For the native kids, it's in their blood. It's something that we can really connect them back to the culture by having them come out and see the animal [and] be around it," said Coburn.
It took roughly one hour for the bison to get from the field to the plate.
