The Worlds Largest Bison Skull is Now in Billings, Montana

A week ago, I saw something very cool show up in my Facebook feed. It was a post with pictures of a HUGE bison skull. The massive artwork was pictured sitting on a trailer by Highway 2 near Oswego, MT, a small community outside of Wolf Point.

"How have I never heard of this huge skull before?" I thought to myself. I have this weird fascination with oversized things. I've always thought Billings should have something ridiculously large like countless other cities across the US.

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Courtesy Benji Daniels/Melissa Daniels, used with permission

New Salem, North Dakota, has "Salem Sue," a gigantic fiberglass cow, and down the road in Jamestown, ND, you'll find a 26-foot-tall buffalo. South Dakota has several large things, too. Obviously, there's Mount Rushmore. But South Dakota also claims the world's largest Bigfoot, a massive creation in Keystone among its larger-than-life oddities.

Curious about the bison skull, I reached out to its creator, Montana Native and Veteran Benji Daniels, and his daughter, Melissa. They told me an interesting backstory.

Artist Benji Daniels. Credit Michael Foth, TSM

Forty-some years ago, Benji worked as a welder at the Laurel refinery. The artist and a friend slowly began collecting leftover pieces of steel and iron from the refinery scrapyard and started constructing the skull sculpture, named Herd Bull.

Courtesy Benji Daniels/Melissa Daniels, used with permission. Canva

The original Herd Bull was completed in 1990.

Comprised of 330 individual pieces and weighing 4,600 pounds, the original Herd Bull was sold to the Montana Historical Society in 1995, where it remains displayed today. When Benji sold it, the contract permitted him to make a cast.

Creating the 304 molds for the casting cost $34,000. But the biggest expense was making the bronze cast... that bill hit $150,000. The replica of the original Herd Bull was completed by a foundry in Billings in 2015.

More examples of Benji's work. Courtesy Benji Daniels/Melissa Daniels, used with permission

Tens of thousands of people have seen Herd Bull.

The cast has been displayed at several locations over the years. It spent three weeks at the Buffalo Chip in Sturgis. It then went to Fargo, where it rested proudly on the NDSU campus. Herd Bull spent an entire summer on display in Medora, ND. The giant bison skull also made several visits to Great Falls.

The horns are removed for transport. Credit Michael Foth, TSM

Now, folks in the Billings area have a chance to see the Herd Bull.

The sculpture arrived in Billings on June 15 and will be reassembled on June 17 and set on Don "Doc" Woerners' art studio lawn, located just south of ZooMontana/Meadowlark Brewing on South Shiloh Road.

Since the sculpture is 21 feet wide, the horns are removed for transport. It's 9 feet tall and roughly 15 feet deep. Photos don't really do it justice.

Herd Bull will likely be set somewhere in this area, said Woerner. Credit Michael Foth, TSM