Buffalo Meat - The Last Hunter

By Author: ALM
Total Articles: 61

What was it truly like?
By the early nineteen hundreds the Assinaboin indians had already moved on to the great plains
Being estimated at around 1900 warriors or around 10,000 people and being removed from their past culture their lives now around the great buffalo, food, shelter, every thing was buffalo dependent. The buffalo hunt was by no means a haphazard affair. Their lives depended on a profitable hunt.The path of the wind, the topology of the country, the cover for technique, several folks had been involved and worked in unison with numerous tasks carefully taken into consideration by the people in charge. Whilst indian scouts had been sent out to locate the herd, the complete band remained beneath the control of the Dog Soldiers. Day of the Hunt At last the day of the hunt was here and the hunters would attack in unison. The riders brought whips across the flanks of ponies with sounds like rifle shots. In a scattering of clumps of dirt and clouds of dust, to the sound of pounding dead buffalo with their razor sharp bcarvuing knives in hand, identifying the dead killed by their masters by the markings on the arrow shafts. In a remarkably brief time the deep slashes from their sharp knives would minimize the piles of flesh to vibrant shining bones and piles of raw, red meat. There would now be many days and nights of feasting upon roasted meat & ribs, upon tender tongues and fat, while the joyous throbbing of the tom toms would continue in the background.The meat that could not be quickly be eaten was cut into strips and dried in the hot sun. A successful hunt was had by all. The Red Meat supplied food, the brain was utilised in the procedure of tanning the hides were produced into robes, clothing, moccasins, trunks or shields & tepe covers. Sinewa was converted into thread, the hoofs made glue, while the stomach was used for cooking food in pits. Perhaps this isn't exactly like it employed to be completed however this write-up should give you an notion of what a buffalo bow and arrow hunt was like about 2 centuries ago. The Sun Dance The biggest event of the year which normally followed a couple months after the buffalo hunt was the very popular sun dance. To the indians the sun dance meant visiting with family members and reinforcing tribal ties, being extremely significantly to the redskin what Christmas is to the whites. The tepe was to the plains indians what an RV is to us today, our buffalo herd is at the store where we can buy just about anything we can afford. Our currancy is dollars while the indians used horses to gauge a mans welth. Life expectancy is much greater for a white man than the red man in his day.