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Matt Hamon published on CNN Photos

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Jun 6, 2016

Bloody, visceral world of Montana's off-grid butchers

With their long beards, plaid shirts and timeless surroundings, they could be part of a folksy fashion shoot for a hip magazine.

If it weren't for all the blood.

These are what photographer Matt Hamon calls "the gleaners" -- a group of people living off-grid in rural Montana, sustaining themselves by scavenging meat from bison carcasses left by hunters.

Hamon, a hunter himself, was scouring the Internet for butchery tips when he came across a member of the group discussing primitive skills and practices.

Intrigued by their tough lifestyle, he sought them out in the dead of winter, when they join the annual buffalohunt on the edge of Yellowstone National Park to harvest animal parts left by Native American hunters.

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Bloody, visceral world of Montana's off-grid butchers

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