Buffalo Hunting on the Plains

The Indians of the pioneer High Plains took to riding horses as easily as a bird to flight, as they say.  Their equestrian skills for buffalo hunting were superb - a game they found thrilling and perilous.

Killing buffalo demanded great skill in both horsemanship and marksmanship.  An Indian could send off eight arrows in the time it took to reload a gun.  An injured buffalo was dangerous, so a hunter had to hit the right spot or risk dying himself.

With mobility and speed on horseback, all agricultural pursuits disappeared.  They became totally nomadic and spent most of the year in pursuit of the herds.  Entire families went on the chase, carrying all their belongings on travois (a type of sled on poles to pull).

In times of plenty, only the choice meat was taken, but when the times were scarce, the buffalo became a supermarket on the hoof.  Hides for tepee coverings, clothes, drums, robes, moccasins, quivers, medicine bags, shields, saddles, stirrups, dolls, and gun cases.  Even the stomach was used as a water container, its contents as skin ointments.

Next time...The Code of the Warrior


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Today in Pioneer History:  On April 28, 1897,  the Chickasaw and Choctaw, two of the Five Civilized Tribes, become the first to agree to abolish tribal government and communal ownership of land. The other tribes soon followed, finally throwing open all of Indian Territory to white settlement.