3 North Dakota tribes selling bison products

Bison sticks and jerky are being marketed by the Three Affiliated Tribes from the tribal bison herd.

Billings Gazette

The Fort Berthold Reservation herd has about 700 bison in the Mandaree area, through an agreement with the National Park Service.

Pete Hale, manager of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Buffalo Project, said that after the tribes purchased a ranch a few years ago, he and Tribal Chairman Tex Hall discussed how to make the bison marketable. One of the ideas was to make jerky, Hale said.

"I think at the time, the bottom had dropped out of the buffalo market. We started with the original (flavor) first," Hale said.

Three other flavors of jerky and buffalo sticks — teriyaki, jalapeno and peppered — have since been added. Myers Meats, a business in the Parshall-Roseglen area, processes the meat for the tribe.

Bison meat is low in cholesterol and high in protein, Hale said.

Each vacuum-sealed packet of buffalo jerky and sticks carries a U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved sticker. Hale said it also promotes tourism for the tribes by showing a picture of Sakagawea, the Indian woman who joined the expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in North Dakota some 200 years ago.

Hale said the bison meat benefits other businesses as well. He said Soltis Business Forms and Specialties, Inc., of Minot, makes the logo for the packets, and the tribes buy bison feed from Minot and other vendors.

The tribally owned 4 Bears Casino & Lodge, west of New Town, buys bison from the tribal herd. The casino’s general manager, Spencer Wilkinson Jr., said the meat will be featured when a new restaurant opens in December.

Hale said the tribal buffalo project also sells bison meat to individuals, and he would like to expand its sales and marketing to larger meat products as well.

"We’re going to set it up so we can sell halves, quarters or thirds," he said.

"Marketing the buffalo meat for the tribe and also working at the ranch for the tribe has given me a great respect for the animal," Hale said. "It really provided for our people and it can do it for us today if we just start changing our diets."

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