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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Dracon" data-source="post: 3335205" data-attributes="member: 14799">OK Bob - Buffalo chips?  Buffalo (American Bison) in general? Sure, I can speak to both. My matriculation from Buffalo High was just a prelude to keeping both in my life where I was continuously  connected to buffalo.People who know little about what are called buffalo chips find their use amusing.  But amusement really is because of understandable ignorance.The fecal material from ruminants have been used in a variety of ways throughout the world by human for centuries. On the American prairie where trees exist only along water courses. the native Americans, pioneers, hide hunters, adventurers, etc. used the chips as fuel for heating and cooking.They burn hot and clean, containing among other things methane gas.  Chips are no more than undigested grass.  While buffalo chips look similar to what we call cow pies, they are not the same.  Dairy and beef cows also have multiple stomachs as does the  buffalo, but buffalo fecal material is unique to that species.Montana and Wyoming boys and girls in the forties and fifties ate a lot of buffalo in their school lunch programs coming from Yellowstone Park.   Park rangers were constantly culling the herds in the winter to keep the Park's range lands from being destroyed from over grazing.  But they did this with little fan fare and public knowledge.  This eventually became a political problem for the park service.I've talked to old time rangers who did the culling.  It was a very unpleasant job.  Killing animals by the hundreds in the winter is no one's definition of sport hunting.  But we school children did enjoy the meat, which many claim is the healthiest available - no herbicides, pesticides, hormones, etc.  In the 1983 winter, Montana had its first public buffalo hunting season to cull buffalo coming from the Park into Montana.  Thousands of residents put in their names in the drawing for only 35 permits.  I know because I lucked out and drew one.  The Buffalo High magic was still working for me.I shot a four year old bull in the presence of a game warden and a field biologist.  The buffalo were not just standing there 50 feet away.  We couldn't get closer than 200 yards.  The 600 pounds of meat the bull yielded was shared with friends and relatives. But I won't bore the reader with additional details about this tale because I have a bald and golden eagle story to share.John</blockquote>

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