Buffalo Hunt

1. Buffalo Hunt Book by Russell Freedman Russell Freedman Report by Jacob lobb 1

2. Chapter 1 A Gift From the Great Spirit In this chapter it says at night the Indians would tell lots of eerie and magnificent stories about the buffalo. It was mostly about the buffalos that would change into men, children or women and stories of children who were raised by buffalo and knew their language. It was said that in the olden times the buffalo used to eat the Indians and they were very scared. An Indian named Old Man put a stop to it he made a race to see who should eat whom and the Indians won. All Indians on the Great Plains had many stories to tell. As the Comanche goes it said that buffalo came from a gigantic cave in the areas off of the ranges of the windswept ranges of the Texas panhandle. To the plains Indians buffalo were the most important animal to them. This lumbering animal gave the Indians almost everything that they needed to flourish. The Indians ate the buffalo, made the buffalo into clothes. They also made raw materials to make gleaming weapons. The Indians had been stalking the buffalo on foot until horses had been brought by the Spanish explores in the 1500s. Horses were all over the Great Plains and the Indians learned how to capture and tame the wild horses and didn’t have to hunt on foot all the time. And that is how this chapter went. As the story said the Indians told stories about ghostly buffalo. Once the horses arrived on the great plains it made it a lot eaiser for the Indians to hunt. 2

3. Chapter 2 Buffalo Magic In this chapter Buffalo Magic it said that the best time for hunting was late summer or early fall when the buffalo were eating lots more and putting on their winter fat. They would try to get enough buffalo to last the winter or it said until the first big snow. It was the job of the shaman or the medicine man to attract the buffalo, or try to guide the Indians to the closest herd. It said that he would need cooperation of the spirits. As it said without the medicine mans help the buffalo would stay out of range. A medicine man was not a healer or a doctor he was a spiritual leader or a holy man. Or even someone with mysterious powers. Although he was also expected to cure sicknesses, cast spells, and see into the future. It says that short before a hunt the medicine man would had visions and dreams would tell him where the buffalo gathered. The medicine man offered some prayers, sang different songs, and preformed rituals that would triumph the spirits. He would often prey to a buffalo skull that had been killed, after a buffalo had been killed by an Indian it was thought that the sprit would stay in the buffalo’s skull until the horns dropped onto the earth and were swallowed. The prayer of the medicine man was supposed to summon the buffalo’s spirit. Buffalo masks or headdresses were often used in the ceremonial dances. When the Indians did these dances they imitated the buffalo and even sometimes these dances went on for days. As the story goes in 1832, Gorge Catlin watched the buffalo dance. 10 to 15 Mandan joined to do this dance. Everyone's bodies were painted with white, red or black stripes. Every dancer had a buffalo mask and his favorite bow or spear. A hunt was organized by the leaders of a band around a fire then they would choose several young warriors with good characters to serve as a marshal. Being chosen a marshal was a great honor. Every marshal would draw a black stripe down the side of his right cheek. All marshals had the right to take away an offenders property, they could block anyone from talking part in the hunt, or in any of the bands activities. As it goes it would take as long as three months to make a fine bow. The arrows of a bow would be made of cane or dogwood. The arrows were tipped with bone, stone, or horn. Even when muskrats were invented Indians still used bow because they would load a bow faster than a muskrat on horseback. It wasn’t until 1870s that repeating rifles were made that is when the Indians began to discard there bows and spears. And that is how this chapter mostly went. On every horse neck a long rawhide strap hang behind the horse so if the rider fell he could get straight back up 3 It was in the 1870s that the Indians stopped using bow and arrows

4. Chapter 3 The Hunt This chapter is mostly about Hunting. Almost all Indians were up at sunrise on hunting day. Marshals discussed how the day would go. The women took down there Tipis and the children gathered the horses and the dogs. The Indians packed their belongings on a travois. Travois were used to hold all of there stuff. Travois were used like we use trains. It also carried many important items. The Indians would go at a easy pace so the horses would have enough energy to go hunting. The women carried packs on there backs but the men didn’t carry packs in case of a surprise attack. Usually the elder ride on the travois and it is the same with the children. The marshals would send a scout to look for any buffalo. One Native American tribe thought that they could tell where the buffalo went by a crows actions and another thought that they could tell by a crickets antennas. The marshals would choose where the attack would begin. The Indians got really close before the buffalo got alarmed but sometimes it fanned them away. If you were a hunter you would try to aim before the last rib witch would pierce the buffalo’s lungs. If an arrow was shot correctly with enough amount of force it could came out the other side of the buffalo. Buffalos were not afraid of wolves so some Indians even dressed up as wolves. If a herd was small enough Indians would surround the herd on foot. The Indians ran around making whooping noises witch confused the buffalo. In the winters Indians would use snowshoes to hunt. That is what this chapter is all about. Buffalo were not only hunted in Fall, Summer and Spring they were also were hunted in Winter. 4 A picture of a hunt in wolf skins.

5. Chapter 4 From the Brains to the Tail In this chapter it says that only the white buffalo hides were chosen first. It is because these are the older hides and they were more delicate. The women would laugh if a hunter used too many arrows to take down a buffalo. The meat would be equally divided with the whole tribe all of the extra meat was sent to the aged or the orphans. Glowing and dripping meat was eaten quickly. Old meat was eaten quickly. Once hunt was over all Indians l left the hearts of the buffalo strewn across the plains. There would be plenty of meat to eat and use it would be stored for the future. Jerky from the buffalo would last for months. Every part of a buffalo was used. It could make bedding, robes, ear muffs, mittens and leggings. The stomach became a water holder. The tail became a fly swatter. Horns became cups, ladles and spoons. The Tipis were owed by the women who made them. It could hold a whole family. It took about 15 min. to put up and 5 min. to take down. It could also be carried anywhere. That is what this chapter was about. This shows what a robe would look like in those times. This buffalo will become very useful for the Indians 5

6. Chapter 5 With all the Buffalo Gone This chapter talks about how the buffalo disappeared. There were about 100,000 buffalo in a herd. They had been hunted for thousands of years but the buffalo dwindled when the white man came. The army sent professional hunters to kill the buffalo, when that happened the buffalo disappeared. But not only in areas without Indians but in hunting grounds all over the plains. Then the Indians tribes started attacking the pro. hunters. But it didn’t stop them. The hunters could bag 200 buffalo in one day. 1,000,000 buffalo were slaughtered in one year. The buffalos population was not springing up but it was going down really fast. There used to be 70 million but when the hunting was over there was about 100 left. That is what this whole book was about. As you can see there are not a lot of buffalo left in this picture. Buffalo being hunted from a union train. 6