In our ceremonies
we have talks and we let the spirits
in the forest know that our intentions are to go out there
and harvest the Waawaashkeshi.
My name is Biskakone.
I am a hunter from Lac du Flambeau.
I hunt for the health of my family
and I hunt for the health of my community.
After the deer
presents himself to us--
[gun shot]
--and give us that shot
we ask for forgiveness for taking its life.
We also speak of how it's going to benefit
our loved ones and our family
through the feasting and usage of its hide
and its --, its meat.
I don't think anybody likes to see a spirit leaving.
Then we remember that we're --
and this is what we do
and this is how we live.
We're suppose to do this.
We're supposed to be in that circle
with that deer and his life.
When he's gone, when he leaves
we take all his organs out and we keep the ones that we want
the heart, the liver
sometimes the kidneys.
Once those insides
those organs and everything, are out, we make an offering.
That moment right there when you drag that deer
up out of the forest
and you're bringing it home to your people
that's my favorite part of the whole hunt.
That little trail right there that you create
from where he fell
to me that's a very sacred time.
When a person has the ability to hunt part of that
responsibly of hunting is sharing your harvest
with your people.
We get the hide
and then we get all the different cuts of meat.
Everyone else cuts the meat.
Somebody would like it.
There's an elder that likes the neck.
I have another friend of mine, he likes the ribs, you know.
A lot of people love the tenderloins
and the hind quarters and the shoulders
and we save the hooves sometimes.
There's a lot to use on a deer.
That venison, that Waawaashkeshi --
there's medicine in there.
All the stuff that we don't ingest today
all the natural things
the grasses and all the medicines
that grow in your waawaashkeshi
he eats that.
We eat him.
He gives that to us.
We want to spread that medicine to our community
and our elders
and give them that original food.
Once the hide comes off the deer the tanning process has begun.
The hide can be used for many different applications
tobacco pouches, moccasins.
Those hides are very, very valuable to Ojibwe people
and a lot of other native people.
Say a baby is going to be born.
We make their first moccasins out of that buck skin
that we just tanned up.
Or a wedding is going to happen.
A gift is going to be made out of that
to represent a new life with their partner.
I work a lot with velvet and buck skin.
When velvet was first introduced here in the 1700s
it became a big part of our dress
in our Ojibwe territory, -- territory.
That represents a time
when our art was as its most fantastic
and glorious
That's when every family did it.
Today there's only a handful of people left that do that.
When we first signed our treaties
there was land areas that we outlined, saying
we'll share the land with you but we're going to retain
our hunting and fishing rights here, forever.
I credit our ancestors for preserving that for us today.
The role here as Ojibwe people
it's an important role.
We're the keepers of the natural world.
It's our job to maintain
this traditional lifestyle for our families
and for our reservation
for our elders and for our babies.
Without it we wouldn't know who we are
we wouldn't know where we come from.