Bison / buffalo meat.
03/28/2025
The Plains Indians were masterful at hunting large game including elk, deer, and especially bison, which were fundamental to the economic, social, and spiritual aspects of many tribes.
Hunting the large plains bison (Bison bison bison), which often weighed more than 1,500 pounds, took ingenuity and skill. For those Native peoples without horses, a common technique was buffalo traps, using large chutes made of rocks and willow branches leading to an enclosure or pound. For larger groups, bison were chased or spooked, forcing them to stampede over a cliff, known as a buffalo jump.
Another technique required a large number of people who would surround a small herd, slowly working the mammals toward the center. Hunters killed as many as they could before the animals broke through the human ring. The opposite approach, exhausting a single bison, was successful when one animal was separated from the herd and then chased in a circle until it collapsed – replicating a style commonly practiced by coyotes or wolves.
When a tribe acquired horses, hunting bison became easier. This painting by Frederic Re*****on in about 1908 shows how Native hunters would simulate bison, using hides to cover themselves giving the illusion from a distance that they and the horses were also bison. This would allow them to get very close to the herd and hunt either using bows and arrows or rifles.
Image: Re*****on’s “Indians Simulating Buffalo,” within the collection of the Library of Congress.
Image Description: Re*****on’s painting shows the golden-grass plains and two Native hunters who are hunched over their horses’ backs. Large bison hides cover them, simulating the profile of the bison. In the background are high plains buttes.
