(dramatic music) - Growing up, we, you know, we've all heard about, you know, the buffalo being so important to the Blackfeet.

It was our life way.

And we were told that, and I was told that.

And I learned that in school.

And I didn't know what that meant culturally.

And so now, I feel like, you know, we're getting a little piece of us back.

(dramatic music) (buffalo mooing) - Okay so.

It's an honor, you know, and when I get chances to do this, it's fun.

You know, it's like being a part of the buffalo drive is, it's more of an honor than anything else.

- So we moved these animals today.

Getting ready to move them back to the wintering grounds.

And a lot of those people that, that we do have out there helping, they're simply volunteering.

They're glad to see these animals back, and glad to see a part of our, a big part of our culture back.

- Herding buffalo is a new thing to our people, you know.

A decade ago, this wasn't happening.

So hopefully for the next seven generations, you know, we'll keep this herd going, and we'll have thousands of them.

(engine revs) (upbeat music) - The buffalo just started out charging more or less.

Like they were, really anxious to get, you know, where they needed to go.

You know, it was pretty humbling.

I used to think that just being on horseback alone was safety enough, but it really isn't.

Like, you have to pay attention and stay back.

And be alert.

Because they could run, you know, run you down.

They need their space, and they demand their space.

(dramatic music) - To get started, it's a little chaotic.

They're not animals to be herded.

So they're gonna want to go where they want to go.

- I wanted them to slow down, 'cause we had old cows and all that, 'cause we had some that didn't cross the highway.

And they were going crazy, they're panicking, where's the herd, where's the herd.

So they're gonna jump whatever.

And that's what happened, they started jumping fences.

Shit.

It's a tough day.

Damn, I have to come back here.

- We got 'em through the first area, and we kinda got 'em pushed into one section.

And they kind of went through a fence, kind of, yeah, they went through a fence.

And we had to get 'em the other direction.

It was kind of a bit confused at the first.

- Well, yeah, as you started out, it's a little rough, a little chaotic getting them all lined out, like I said earlier, but once we got into the afternoon, it was, things all kind of smoothed out, and we were able to get going good along the trail I guess.

(somber music) When you're doing stuff with them, there's... You know, unfortunately, we're gonna have, you know, some fatality.

(somber music) She was an older cow, and just got a little too overheated, you know, on the road too much.

And her heart gave up.

When she died, then her calf, you know, stayed with her.

And the herd just moved on.

- Well the way I look at that is that he realized that his mom died.

And the only way he's gonna have protection is getting back to that herd.

And that's the hardest thing on calves.

Is walking away and continue staying with that herd.

Because that's their protection.

(somber music) You know, that's the way I look at it.

It's just like how we are.

You know, we get our kids in place to where if something ever happened, they still know what to do, how to take care of themselves.

To continue going on with life.

And I felt bad after she died.

Maybe she offered her life to cover everything.

Maybe that's what the purpose was for.

You know, we can't look at it like it's a bad thing, or anything like that, you know, that's life.

(acoustic guitar music) - Being on horseback is better than being on a four wheeler or a pickup truck or anything like that.

The horse is running, and you're going full throttle on your horse, and you've got the buffalo beside you, and you hear the hoofs just trampling the ground.

The adrenaline rush going through your body is just unimaginable.

That feeling alone is, I get from back here, back home, the Blackfeet reservation.

Being a part of this is, you know, a life-changing experience, it has been for me.

(uplifting music) - We have a lot of stories and a lot of ceremony that involve the iinii.

Iinii is what people call the buffalo or the bison.

To us, it's iinii.

They taught us what to eat, how to hunt.

They were the ones who taught us how to live.

- You know, I always, I always talk about how us as a tribe, many people being one and the same as buffalo.

Buffalo were killed off to make way.

You know, make way for the settlers, for their cattle.

And I believe that's the way, that it kind of went the same with us as Indian people.

We needed, they needed to get us out of the way, both the buffalo and the Indian, to make way for the settlers to come in here.

And buffalo now are, they're restricted to areas.

You see all the other wildlife, elk, deer, they can come and go as they please everywhere.

But, buffalo, they won't let them come and go as they please.

And that's the way they were with, in our beginnings, put on reservations weren't allowed to leave.

So we had that same, same fate.

- And today, the challenge is not how iinii takes care of us, but how we're gonna take care of iinii.

We tend to talk about iinii as part of our past.

But he's very much part of our future.

(ethereal music) - In the second day, Old Man Winter came knocking at the door a little early and stuff.

And so we all had to get geared up.

And we actually got a chance to, you know, battle the elements.

- The weather was bad, but I can't say it's bad.

Because I will not hold them in a field more than, longer than two days.

If it was storming like crazy, I'd still have to keep pushing 'em.

'Cause if I don't, they're gonna go it themselves.

And they're not gonna wait for us.

They're just gonna continue going.

Then that's where you end up with people hitting them with cars.

So that's why I just kept pushing.

(eerie music) (inspiring music) - Coming out here, it's hard work, but I love that part.

Last night, I felt like a Mack truck hit me when I sat down and relaxed for a few.

But it was really rewarding, and it was a good feeling.

- The buffalo has been really key in uniting our community, and affecting us in such a positive way.

- For this certain time, of bringing these animals back and forth for the winter and summer ranges, it brings people together.

And creates a community of togetherness.

These animals created that.

They've created a lot of things along the way that I've seen.

(uplifting music) - I feel like they're, like, hurt.

Because we have to pen 'em.

It's just a natural thing in their mind, that they roam wherever they wanted to go back then.

Nothing stopped them.

And if they didn't have fences here, they'd have already been home a month ago.

And they'd already be working their way back up here just for the heck of it.

- That's really how buffalo should be, just be able to roam free, just like other wildlife.

And we want to see buffalo accepted like that.

To be wildlife as they should be, and be able to roam.

It might not ever be, but it's kind of always been a big dream of mine, is that to happen.

(men chattering) - When we get to the gate, we'll have somebody at the gate to open it.

And then the only thing that you have to do is just yell at 'em, "Gate!"

If you yell at 'em gate, they know to go through that gate.

- And then just remember what Ladner said yesterday.

We pray, he said, we pray that everybody is safe.

Nobody gets hurt.

(engines revving) (dramatic music) (inspiring music) - I hear stories about like how the older people would always say that the buffalo would never come back.

You know, because they were part of that era, where there were no buffalo here on the reservation.

And now, you know, buffalo conservation is happening everywhere, and it really gives us hope.

- I always have that feeling of I want to be a part of helping make things better, you know, for our people.

And now helping make things better for our buffalo.

(inspiring music) It's a real big thing for me, and now a lot of our people, to actually see them buffalo back here on our lands, when they were gone for so many years.

And then my thought is that, I want to see them here on this land, you know, for, you know, generations to come.

For all of my, my kids, my grandkids, my great-grandkids.

You know, I want them animals to be here for our future generations.

(inspiring music) (singing in foreign language) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] When the buffalo was wiped out, they didn't just leave the land.

They left us.

When they disappeared, a storm came and fell on our spirits.

A cold that's been here ever since.

(somber music) When my cousin dropped me off at the buffalo drive, I was pissed.

He said it would be good for me to be around the buffalo.

That the buffalo spirit is medicine.

But I didn't believe him.

This whole thing was crazy.

These people giving their lives to a big, dumb animal?

But my cousin told me, "You have a soul wound.

"And the buffalo can heal you.

"You don't even know that you're looking for help.

"But they're here to help you."

I thought it was stupid.

And I didn't trust any of it.

So I found a horse, and just got out of the way.

(ethereal music) Seeing the buffalo run was like nothing else.

(ethereal music) The animals was like a magnet, pulling me.

I couldn't stop watching them.

Following them.

It was like I was part of the herd.

Whatever they did, I did.

(uplifting music) It's hard to describe, but the buffalo woke something up in me.

Part of me that I didn't even know was there.

And this new thing started doing stuff on its own.

And led me to the camp.

(ethereal music) That night, something happened.

(speaking in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) Hearing that song opened something.

Something that I had been pushing away.

And trying to run from.

A buffalo and people.

It was like they set fire to me.

Burning the old me.

But as the flames and the smoke faded, I saw the sky again.

(uplifting music) (singing in foreign language) We have a story from another time, but the buffalo disappeared.

It was deep winter, and a young girl from our people found a sacred stone, what we call (speaks foreign language) a buffalo stone.

That stone and the songs that it taught us brought the buffalo back.

An elder gave me one at the end of the drive.

He told me the meaning of the niskin is different today.

That there's many meaning.

Now it's protection.

It's community.

It's healing.

And for me, it's a reminder.

(uplifting music) (soothing guitar music)