Tribes to hold surplus bison auction
BISON LAYING down in the National Bison Range, near Moiese. (John Dowd/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will be conducting a capture event in October at the CSKT Bison Range to pull surplus bison as a means to keep genetic diversity high and capacity within Bison Range long-term goal for the remaining herd.
They will be pulling 30 individual 2- and 3-year-old bison for sale to the highest bidder of a sealed bid auction. An individual bison will need individual bids.
The bison sold will consist of 12 2-year old bulls, eight 3-year-old heifers, five 3-year old heifers and five 3-year old bulls with a minimum bid of $,1100/bison for 2-year olds and a minimum of $1,200/bison for 3-year olds.
A 10% deposit is required with all bids. Deposits must be in the form of a cashier’s check or money order, no personal checks. All deposit checks should be made payable to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Deposit checks will only be returned to unsuccessful bidders. Successful bidders that decline will forfeit their deposit. Final payment for successful bidders may only be in the form of cashier’s check, money order, or cash, no personal checks.
No guarantee of size of bison up for bid will be made, only that the animals will be apparently healthy before being loaded onto the highest bidder’s trailer. The tribes are not responsible for transporting auction bison. They will have a veterinarian on site during the capture; all charges for mandatory testing will be responsibility of the highest bidder and will be added to sale amount upon conclusion of capture event. It will be up to the successful bidders to make arrangements for any/all testing needs to move across both county and state lines, state agricultural offices have this information available upon request.
All sale bison will need to be picked up within one week of the capture event. Any animals held longer than that will go to the next highest bidder from the auction unless other arrangements have been made with CSKT Bison Range staff.
High Bidders will be notified ASAP of their winning bids after Sept. 7, 2023. To request a bid package, reach out to Shannon Clairmont at Shannon.Clairmont@cskt.org or (406) 883-2888.