Symbols ...

For years now, Montana has used the bison skull as one of its unofficial state symbols. This is probably due to Charlie Russell, who used an outline of a bison skull as part of the signature on his paintings. Among other places, the skull has been incorporated into our license plate designs for decades ... and rather oddly, it was also the main design element in the Montana state quarter.

And of course, animal skulls have been used as decorative elements at western ranches for generations. I don't think this is a bison, but I found this skull adorning the wall of a beautiful old stone building at the old Three Circle Ranch near the little town of Birney, down in the Tongue River country.