Buffalo HuntBy Tina Hayes

This great book by Russell Freedman is about how the Native Americans venture across the land to hunt Buffalo. In the next five pages I will tell you all about the details stated inside the book. I hope at the end of this factual introduction you will be ready to read it!

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A Gift From The Great Spirit

The Indians used to tell stories of ancient beliefs, one of which was quite intriguing because they believed that at one point the Buffalo consumed the Indians. They call a legendary Indian named Old Man. He put a stop to the Buffalos eating the Indians and set up a race between them. Whoever wins gets to eat their opponent. The Indians defeated the Buffalo which means they won.

Before every Buffalo hunt the Indians gather together and praise the Buffalo for giving them his meat and skins. Back then when the Indians didn’t have horses or weapons to hunt with they would chase the Buffalo over cliffs and into corrals to kill them there. After a hunt it was the women's jobs to scrape and tan the hide and put the meat into the drying process. When they were successful in hunting the Indians would pack the Buffalos onto pack dogs (big shaggy dogs) because they didn’t have any horses.

In the 1500s the Spanish explorers brought horses to the US and agilely they ran away from the Spanish posts in Mexico. The Indians discovered and captured the horses and kept them as their own for hunting and traveling. Shortly after the Indians located the horses the Indians became some of the best horseman and had the best hunting skills in their time!

These exquisite animals, the Buffalo used to be the Indians main source of food and clothing.

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The wild horse was brought here by Spanish Explorers in the 1500s.

Buffalo MagicWhen a big hunt was coming the Shaman or Medicine man attracted the

attention of the Buffalo, he needed the aid of the spirits to do this . A Medicine man was a great spiritual leader as well as a healer. He was also a holy man, a prophet with mysterious powers. Before hunts the Shaman would contemplate a vision that included where the Buffalo gathers so his tribe’s hunters would know where to attack. He would pray to a Buffalo skull ( considered sacred) and once a Buffalo dropped dead it’s soul would fall deep into t he earth forever as if the Buffalo was buried.

The Indians painted the Buffalo’s skull red and decorated it with fancy feathers and unique quilt work, they attached medicine bundles to represent the Medicine man that prayed to that specific skull. After the skull had been decorated it ascended inside the council meeting tipi (where the leaders of the tribe meet). How does the Indians get the attention of a Buffalo herd? They put Buffalo head dresses on and elated they started pawing, milling, and stampeding in hopes that the Buffalo will come near enough to attack them on sudden notice. The Indians stopped using their bows and arrows to hunt with and they started using firearms instead. Idians discovered firearms in the 1870s.

Indian Medicine men were not only a healers they were looked up to as a holy man also and a prophet with mysterious powers.

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The Indian Medicine man would pray to a Buffalo skull decorated in fancy feathers and quilt work and medicine bundles.

The HuntEveryone was elated on the day of the hunt. The tribe had to get up at sunrise

and fulfill their chores. Once the Indians were told to leave by the tribe officials everyone left within minutes. They ventured across the across the plains with pack-dogs and pack-horses carrying their tipis, weapons and tools. The Indian women ascended with bags on their backs, the men never carried anything but their weapons in case of a attack from unwanted visitors. Tribe scouts rode in front of the Indians and warriors in the back of them acting as the police, making sure no one or nothing was coming to harm them.

Indians also had their own way of entertaining themselves, they sang and danced. They sang as they marched across the plains and the dogs barked, horses whined and bells jingled. Once they reached the expected location the marshals searched for the best place to hunt Buffalo. They searched for signs, the Comanche searched for ravens, the people of their tribe’s characteristic believed that if a raven circled 4 times and cawed it would fly off toward the Buffalo. Cheyenne Indians believed that if a hunter of their own found a cricket , held it in his hand and what ever way it’s antenna pointed was the way the Buffalo was headed.

The Indians moved their camp to reach the next Buffalo hunt station.

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The Indians used pack horses to carry their tipis and family members.

From The Brains To The Tail

There was a rule among the Indians, whoever killed the Buffalo would get to use it’s massive hide. The hide was identified among the women of the hunters household. If anyone didn’t need some of their hide or meat they would give it to the aged, orphans, or the ailing. Butchering the Buffalo was the women's jobs, they would take their sharp flint knives to slash open the hides. When the Indians left their camping grounds after a big hunt, they leave maybe even hundreds of Buffalo hearts behind. After a hunt the women hung thin pieces of Buffalo meat with caution onto poles to dry out. Days pass and it turns into sundried meat. They put the meat into many different sources of food. The Buffalo hide however was pinned to the ground so it could be scraped. This means it was kind of washed. They scraped off the fat and blood so they could start to tan the dilapidated hides. They used tanning liquid made of Buffalo brains, liver and fat mixed in water. From there the hides were altered into winter robes or coats.

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The Indians wanted to preserve meat so the put it onto a drying station.

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The Indian women used sharp flint knives to cut the hide off the Buffalo.

With The Buffalo GoneI go kill the Buffalo.

The Great Spirit sent the Buffalo .

So give me my bow; give me my bow.

I go kill the Buffalo.

As the white people ventured to the US the Buffalo numbers started to ascend lower than ever before. In the 1800s white traders wanted some of the Indians Buffalo robes and tongues in exchange they gave them things comprised of guns, tools, alcohol, and many different trinkets. Then the Indians started killing the Buffalo for tongues and hides only to trade and sell to the white men. By the 1830s to the 1840s the white men were killing more Buffalo than the Indians. The Pioneers started coming in covered wagons and before long the once great animal had fallen to the point where it would be very scarce to find any Buffalo. Soon enough Buffalo hunting became one of the most popular sports and any Buffalo spotted were killed on the spot. It used to be on the trains here people could open their windows and fire away at the animals. Many Indians died of hunger because not only was their way of living gone so was their diet meaning the Buffalo was hard to find that frequently and when they did find any not many were left.

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The Buffalo used to roam free and had about 3000 Buffalo around the land now it is hard to find just about anywhere.