Taking life to give life: Montana students connect to culture through ceremonial bison harvest
A bison harvest allowed Montana high school students to engage in Indigenous traditions, while taking a life to give life through ceremony in Vaughn at the Big Sky Bison Ranch.
Students from Great Falls and Helena public schools visited the ranch on Nov. 22 to participate in a pipe ceremony, buffalo stories and the hunt, all of which were led by Blackfeet elders.
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The heart of a bison warms the hands of a high school student at Vaughn's Big Sky Bison Ranch on Nov. 22, 2024.
There were 39 Helena Public Schools students in attendance, 21 were Indigenous, nine culinary students and nine Advanced Placement environmental classmates.
Sage and cedar burned, filling the air with a distinctive scent while students listened to speeches from Larry Ground, a Blackfeet elder.
"When an animal gets taken, it's sad, but then you guys remember about the things that happen in the future of days that will have gone by. You guys will be providing food to a lot of people," Ground said.
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A bison's head sits on the snow in Vaughn on Nov. 22, 2024 after students engaged in a bison harvest ceremony.
The students were told to have a positive and gracious mindset because the bison hunt was a ceremonial way of taking a life, but also giving life to students through food for each of them. They were advised to stay "grounded and present" during the ceremony.
"This was definitely really fun. I'm really happy that I got to come," Aizalyn Flaten, a Great Falls High School junior, said. "I've learned a lot more about practices, and I learned more about the bison."
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A high school student holds a bison's head for photos after others killed the animal on Nov. 22, 2024 in Vaughn at the Big Sky Bison Ranch.
She said she did not know female bison stayed together while the males tended to stay separated. The females would lead other buffalo when they ran, she added.
Outside of the ceremony, the opportunity allowed students to mingle with others and make friends. Capital High School freshman Halen Glueckert was one of them.
"I got to see a lot of people I've never met before," he said. Glueckert thought it was interesting to be a part of the tobacco and pipe ceremony.
During the speeches, prayers were made using tobacco that was placed on the ground once it was completed.
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Two students listen as an elder speaks to the crowd of high schoolers before they killed a bison on Nov. 22, 2024 in Vaughn.
Another Capital High School freshman, Arianna Romero, agreed with her schoolmate that the event gave her an opportunity to meet new people and learn more about her culture.
Romero had never been that close to a bison, but added with a subtle laugh she has never done well around dead animals.
The ceremonies were meant to bring indigenous students closer to their traditions, according to Dugan Coburn, Great Falls Public Schools director of Indian Education.
He said this was about the 27th bison harvest provided by the Great Falls Public Schools district, and he always wanted other districts to participate.
Helena Public Schools was added to the roster and students from Missoula will participate in December.
"The importance of the ceremonies, seeing it and making the connections, I almost want to say that it is in the blood of the Native kids," Coburn said.
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Dugan Coburn smokes during a pipe ceremony as part of the bison harvest Nov. 22, 2024.
He said the connections reawaken that instinct in students to have the "hands-on experience."
"For a lot of these urban kids, this is the first time they've been out here. They get to see the ceremony, hear the prayers, and I think it connects them to who they are and where they're from," Coburn said.
Elders gave out multiple indigenous names to students during the event because they never had the opportunity to experience that before.
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High school students build a bonfire to stay warm as snow falls at the Big Sky Bison Ranch Nov. 22, 2024 in Vaughn.
"It's an opportunity to awaken the spirit in these kids, so when they go home they feel better about themselves," he said. "This will be an adventure all their lives. They're going to go back and say, 'I was at a bison harvest and we did this and that.'"
As snow fell, students waited for Blackfeet elders to bless the knives they used to skin and gut the buffalo before divvying up the meat to the two school districts.
Students built a bonfire to stay warm as they awaited a bison, shot with a blessed rifle and bullet, to arrive.
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The hide of a bison is placed on the ground before being cleaned and wrapped up Nov. 22, 2024.
Once it arrived hanging from the back of a truck, the bison was carved and taken apart piece-by-piece. High schoolers participated in the gutting using their blessed knives and removed the buffalo's intestines and head.
The knives were painted with paint mixed with bison tallow as a part of the ceremony.
The bison was removed from the truck and hung on a hook for students to carve away the hide of the animal to be placed on the ground and cleaned.
Some of the meat taken by students was cooked for everyone to try, while the meat that was placed in coolers went back with students.
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On Nov. 22, 2024, a bison's front leg sits in a cooler after Montana high school students butchered its meat.
Each student will receive 1 pound of ground bison and whatever is left over from the harvest will be sent to the Helena Indian Alliance food pantry and used at Helena High School for family night events, according to a Helena school district representative.
The bones and organs kept by Helena Public Schools will be used for science classes.
"Connecting students back to our culture is the big thing, but the comradery that's happening, we have these kids from multiple schools, hopefully making that connection," Coburn said.
