How bison became a South Dakota food favorite
Makenzie HuberThis article is about one of 18 South Dakota food favorites. For the complete list, go here.
Bison: Basically, it's beef but it's from a mammal native to the Great Plains. Make bison roasts, steaks or burgers — it's just leaner than normal beef and so should be prepared medium rare.
While the bison might be the United States' national mammal, South Dakota can claim it as one of its own.
South Dakota boasts some of the largest wild herds in the world and produces the largest number of bison for farming in the United States.
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South Dakota has an inventory of more than 30,000 bison, according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture. As for herds in the state, Custer State Park alone numbers more than 1,300. Bison, which was established as the national mammal in 2016, can also be found in Badlands National Park and Wind Cave National Park, which was paramount in the rehabilitation and revitalization efforts of bison across the country.
While the numbers are still small compared to the cattle industry, South Dakota is entwined with the animal, since it is native to the state.
Bison once roamed the plains in large herds, but the mammal's numbers eventually dwindled because of excessive hunting in the 1800s. Experts estimate that up to 60 million bison roamed North America in the 1500s. By 1884, there were around 325 wild bison left in the United States, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Railroads built across the Great Plans during the 1860s divided the bison in the United States into two main herds and were more easily killed by hunters, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. An estimated 2 million bison were killed in 1870 alone.
Most bison killed by hunters were left on the Great Plains. Settlers would gather the carcasses and sell them for a profit. By 1870, there were no bison east of the Missouri River, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Organizations and private ranchers took action to save bison before they were extinct in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One man, Pete Dupree, captured bison and brought them to his ranch on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in 1881. The herd was later sold to Scotty Philip, who sold 31 bison to the state and began the Custer State Park herd. The Wind Cave National Park’s herd helped revive bison populations across the country by donating bison to different herds across the United States, according to the Department of Interior.
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With the “bison boom,” across the country over the past two decades and bison numbers steadily reestablishing themselves across the United States, the mammal has reemerged as a food item. South Dakota, with its natural habitat for bison, is a prime supplier for the market.
Wild Idea Buffalo Company raises bison on the Cheyenne River Ranch west of the Badlands and processes the animal in Rapid City. The carcass is broken down into roasts and steaks, ground for burgers and made into other items.
The bison food industry has steadily elevated since the '80s, said Jill O'Brian, co-founder of Wild Idea Buffalo. Bison is part of an increase in consumers who are choosing a leaner and grass-fed product than beef, she said.
"I don't think you can have an indigenous species to the area that evolved here and not have it be a core food of South Dakota," said Jill O'Brian, co-founder of Wild Idea Buffalo Company.
But the bison's history in South Dakota stretches farther back to when it was used by Native Americans for food; its bones used for tools and weapons, and its hides for clothing and shelter, according to South Dakota Game Fish and Parks. The bison was a staple in traditional Lakota foods such as wahonpi soup and wasna.
O’Brian predicts that the bison will grow as an alternative to other meats in coming years and expand as an industry.