Buffalo Hunt by Russell Freedman Report by Jack Tickle

A Gift From the Great Spirit The Indians told stories about the buffalo. Like some men that could magically turn into buffalo and children that were raised by buffalo. A long time ago the buffalo used to devour Indians. A person named Old Man needed to put a stop to it. He organized a race between the Indians and the buffalo. The Indians took victory. All over the plains Indians had a variety of stories to tell about the races with the massive buffalo. When trappers and traders came to visit that’s when the Indians saw their items such as knives other exquisite weapons. They wanted to trade baskets and blankets they made for these weapons. Men hunted the buffalo and killed them. Women were the ones that skinned and butcherd the buffalo.

Buffalo Magic The best season to hunt buffalo was late summer and early fall because the buffalo started gaining fat for the frigid winter. The Indians would follow and hunt the massive herds until they had ample food to last them the whole winter. The massive hunt was always similar to a party. Every child, woman and man travelled along on the great hunt. The person who lured the buffalo into shooting range is the medicine man because his crazy masks fascinated the buffalo. Before the big hunt the medicine man had visions of were the buffalo gathered and where they were.

The Hunt On the day of the magnificent hunt every one had a job. The woman hurried and packed up the tipis they resided in. The children packed up their hand made toys, horses and dogs. The men were busy discussing the hunt. Right before they left all the hunters and woman got in small groups discussing what the big hunt was going to be like. Scouts rode ahead of the Indian tribe looking for signs of where the buffalo ventured. They were also on the lookout for enemies. There were also people who guarded the rear of the tribe making sure no one in the tribe lagged behind.

From Brains to the Tail Before they skinned and butchered a buffalo the medicine man performed a religious offering of one of the dead buffalo. The buffalo that were usually chosen were the white buffalo because the medicine man thought they were the most valuable buffalo to offer. The buffalo skin and meat belonged to the hunter that had killed the magnificent buffalo. The hunters ate anything to the buffalo’s brains, liver and intestines that they dipped in salty juices of the gallbladder. During the big hunt hundreds of buffalo were killed. The meat was eaten right away as massive celebration.

With the Buffalo Gone Year after year the buffalo drifted back north in small bands of about 20 buffalo. In the summer they formed massive herds of thousands of buffalo. The herd could be 50 miles long and take days to pass by. All over the west trading caravans started to form. The trappers and traders killed the buffalo only for their valuable hides. Westward wagons were beginning to scare off the buffalo and that’s when the Indians got scarce on food. In the 1880 most of the buffalo vanished which meant the Indians clothing, food, and protection disappeared.