Bison insides-what to keep?

[DuBois]

I have been given the opportunity to help out doing some work on a bison ranch and dressing out a few bison to take to the meat processor. I have been eyeballing the gutpiles and wondering what would be worth grabbing before the critters do. What would you keep? Would a gut bowstring work well?
Stomach lining for bow backing?

There was a Hmong family that came out for one bison they bought in honor of their father and they kept basically every part. I thought these were cool:
Charred hair off hide with torch and sliced in strips to eat (not sure how it got cooked).
Gallbladder full of fluid used for seasoning and also to treat bruising and skin problems by rubbing fluid into area.
Intestines full and tied n knots on both ends.

[nclonghunter]

The most used, would be heart, tongue and liver for eating. Bison may have caul fat which can be used. Some of the intestine could be cleaned and used for pemmican or water bags. I have heard of cooking meat inside intestine. If any fat is found it can be rendered and used as oil or the fat could be mixed with burger of venison rather than mixing pork or beef fat as many do. If any bones are left from the butchering you have a great opportunity to make fantastic bone broth. Cut the bones into pieces that will fit into a large pot. It helps to bake or brown the bone and attached meat over a fire before putting into the pot (adds flavor). Cover with water and add a little bit of vinegar along with salt and carrots and celery if you want. Boil and slow cook for a couple days and then strain. Can the broth in jars and pressure cook. Bone broth is great for your health and having clean grass feed animal bones is best.

I have developed my deer processing much the same. Remove meat and edible organs then use the bones for broth. Tan the hide and you have used 90% of the entire deer.

[loon]

Bison sinew should be good if processed?

[tipi stuff]

Wow,,,,,,, where to begin? The pericardium (heart sac) was commonly used as a water bag, and was sometimes used for wrappings for things (food for example). Remove the heart at the very top, make a circular cut around the top of the heart, and peel it off. Collect leg tendons (for thread, string and bow backing), and the tendon the holds up the head (for sinew arrow points). Bladders can be used for a water bag, but if you cut the top off, soften it an and sew a leather top to it, it makes a great lunch sack. Horn caps for spoons. Small intestine,,, rinse inside and out, and stuff with heart, muscle meat and bits of kidney fat to make sausage. There is a membrane on the small intestine that can be peeled off, and then just roast over the fire and eat (don't eat the membrane, but you can wrap things with it). Small intestines were often filled with rendered grease. You can cut the end off of one of the horns to make a grease funnel. Kidney's were roasted on the open fire, but I must confess, I've not eaten them this way. Liver can be eaten, or mixed with the brains for a tanning solution. Leg bones can be boiled for grease. They are roasted over a fire for the edible marrow (cook until they crack open). The hard bone covering the marrow makes great arrow points. As nclonghunter mentioned, the tongue is edible, and very good. The appendix makes a container when dried (work it between your hands as it dries).
The list goes on and on...........          Curtis