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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2002)
4 MAY 15, 2002 Smoke Signals rand IRomdte Is Buffalo Territory Lakota Indian makes a home for the bison, entertains Tribal children with tour. By Willie Mercier As the massive buffalo assemble in the warm April sun in their pasture along Highway 22 near Grand Ronde - Larry Wakinyan prepares for the group of Before and After Care kids that are on their way to visit his Native Pride Buffalo Company. Wakinyan, a member of the Hunkpapa Tribe of the Lakota Nation, summons the buffalo or bison from the field and into the feeding arena with a handheld drum, he says this is how he has always done it, it is part of who he is. The buffalo hear the rhythmic beats and cease rolling in the dirt, their ears perk up and they start to stand and watch. After a little coercing one of the colossal bison, which happens to be a cow, starts walking to wards the sound of the drum and the others begin to follow. Does it usually take this long to call them? I ask. Wakinyan re sponds that it is taking longer since tnere are "l J peupie man P the buffalo are used to. As the herd comes , I into the arena, the kids look on with the kind of wonderment that can only be 1 A'' I f children witnessing 1 ,x I ?' k It A something for the first Xjff V fetnfV time- Not until the first t creature gets into tne arena do you get a firm grasp on the size of these magnificent animals. "They used to be bigger," said Wakinyan, referring to the buffalo's size in prehistoric times. "The buffalo were huge; they were 15 to 16 feet tall at the hump. They have three times the stocking rate (of cows), they are better food converters (than cows), it takes less food to sustain them and they don't eat until they fall over, they eat until they are satisfied then they sit down and process it," said Wakinyan. The stocking rate, in layman's terms, means if you could have one cow on an acre of land then you could have three buffalo on the same amount of land. "They (the buffalo) are excellent swimmers, they climb like billie goats and eat everything that a cow won't," said Wakinyan. According to Wakinyan, buffalo were native to the west coast. "The buffalo were killed off before Lewis and Clark got here, so the perception is that there were no buffalo in Oregon, the Spanish and the Russians had all hunted them back, so when modern history began to be written the only buffalo that were left were in the middle." Wakinyan's family was relocated from the Midwest to 1 v 1 - t -,r v. v--l V T - .V- i t 1, Sla , .' V : 7.? lie- pip o , ,Wr .;U c? imFu it) Tourists Tribal Before & After Care children recently toured the Native Pride Buffalo Company in Grand Ronde and came away amazed by what they saw and better educated on the varied and remarkable history of the buffalo. He Cares About Bison Hunkpapa Tribal member Larry Wakinyan, who owns Native Pride Buffalo Company on Highway 22 in Grand Ronde, discusses the local bison with Barbara Gundrum during a recent tour of his company by the Tribe's Before & After Care children. the west coast in the 1900's like many of the Grand Ronde Tribes and were relocated here from southern Oregon, which is how his family ended up in the area. The first ranch Wakinyan had was located in Roseburg. So why move to Native Pride to Grand Ronde? "Our primary fresh market is Portland so we knew that we needed to get closer ... and we had lots of friends here." Many fine dining establishments in the Portland metro area get their buffalo from Native Pride. And they don't just ship to Portland, their customers hail from exotic locations such as Egypt, the United Arab Emir ates, Tokyo and most of the major cities in Europe. On this day, the children spend 20 minutes looking on as the behe moths chew hay and grain and muscle each other around lobbying for the best food position; similar to how the kids get the best vantage point to view the unfamiliar scene. As the children watch, their teachers ask them questions to get them thinking. . , ' ! "Why do you think that their coats are like that?" asked Lead Before and After Care Teacher Matt Bucknell regarding the semi bald spots of the buffalo's thick hide. Several kids shout out that it's because of the upcoming warm season and that they are shedding, and they are exactly right. "Imagine what it was like hunting these animals with just a bow and arrows," asks Pearl Mekemson, one of the before and after care supervisors. The buffalo are no longer hunted with traditional Native tools. "I'm the guy with the gun, that's my job," said Wakinyan. The buffalo that are to be har vested are chosen in a spiritual way and they use the whole ani mal, like our ancestors did when they took the life of another creature. All of the items for sale at the Native Pride store are made from Wakinyan's buffalo - from the moc casins to the bone knife and they are all Native made. Wakinyan and his team sing for the buf falo after they have given a prayer and the buf falo that respond are the buffalo that the creator has chosen to provide for harvest according to Wakinyan. Everyone who is involved in the har vesting is Native, but Wakinyan said that he feels a special connection with the "Tatanka" (buffalo), in fact he loves them, you can tell when he recites their history and the countless facts that he has stored in his head and he does it with such en thusiasm that it couldn't be anything but love. So how does "the guy with the gun" do it? Very painfully. "I went to my Elders and told them that I can't do this any more, it hurts too much, and I remem ber a grandmother that was there said 'good, it's supposed to hurt, who better to do this, you want somebody doing this that doesn't love them... you didn't pick them, they picked you.' It doesn't make it any easier," said Wakinyan remembering the conversation thoughtfully. 91 ji z - I
