Fort Liard (Mar 05/04) - More than a dozen Fort Liard youths participated in a band-sponsored bison hunt at Fisherman Lake last month.

Jonathon McLeod was one of the youths who signed up for the trek, his first in pursuit of a bison.

"It was great," said McLeod, 14. "It was like skinning a moose but harder. The hide is very thick."

The week at the camp also taught him how to set traps and snares as well as how to cut up and cook meat, he said. A couple of weasels and martens were caught, skinned and their hides were stretched.

Carla Payou, 13, was just as enthusiastic.

"It was fun going fishing, going out for wood, hanging out and hearing stories from an elder," she said, adding that she would like to do it all again.

The students spent four days at the camp. The group stayed in log cabins owned by the First Nation.

"Some of the youth in town don't get the opportunity to go out on the land," said Terry Neal, an Acho Dene Koe employee who organized the expedition using the First Nation's bison tag.

Elders were invited along to pass on the Dene language, he said.

He was surprised by how engaged the students were in the activities, he said. They didn't complain even though it was cold and they were kept busy "from sun-up to sundown."

"It was exciting to see them want to do things and go and go and go," he said. "They stuck it out the whole time ... it was neat."

Band member Jimmy Klondike shot the 1,500-lb. bison, one in a group of three, after chasing it through some willows and deep snow.

Two-thirds of the meat has been distributed in the community, Neal said.

However, a hind-quarter and some ribs were set aside for a community feast in the spring to celebrate the youths' deeds.

A similar effort was made last year, but it was unsuccessful from a predatory standpoint.

"Unfortunately the buffaloes had wandered away," Neal said of last year's hunt.