bigtim6656

i have always been told that the indians hunted alot harder then we did.

that they did nothave guns tree stand or camo . And that hunting now is nothing to how they did it back then

yesterday i saw i show about the early indians . they had a few guys with bufflo coats on walk upto a herd of buffelo like maybe 500 or so .
Thenthey jump up and get the buffalo running for it towarda cliff.

The buffalo run off the cliff and kill them selfs. No huntingi involved if you askme . Then when the indians are butchering there kill they saidthe indians would not useall the meat before it went roten . That hit me hard
how can a people whotalked about how the whiteman wasunrespectful to the animals. When they hunted in this way .
but i do know that theyhad to hunt to eat. but i was always told the indians did not waste anything even the bones

Bailsuk

I was under the same impression , but i suppose meat cannot last forever when you have limited resourses . At the end of the day they still used almost everything from the carcase for other things ie clothes ,tools and such .

aldo88

The indians did use all of the buffalo and nothing was wasted. And also the whiteman was disrepectful to the animal. All they used from the buffalo was the hides. There are pictures where there are hundreds of dead carcasses across the plains. I also know that the indians did sneak up on the buffalo using buffalo pelts and did get them running towards cliffs. Also remember too that maybe they didnt use all the meat might have been because they didnt have refridgerators.
They also used to sneak up on the buffalo and kill them with bows and spears. To me that is amazing. The fact that they could hit a buffalo running while they are on the back of a horse and still get it with a bow...........incredible if you ask me.

Planter

I don't think they could really monitor the number of buffalo that ran over the cliff but I bet for survival sake alone they tried to use it all. I just can't imagine HAVING to be successful everytime out.

nodog

There's not much out there on their hunting tactics that I've found. They did "hunt" as you've described and they were very happy with it. They would use wolf hides to chase the game over cliffs.

They also would skin a deer, put on it's hide and get close enough to deer to take them with bows.You might get yourself shot today if you did that.

There's a storythat took place here in Ohio of 2 native americans havinga test to see who could bring in the most deer hides in one night. Tecumseh (?)was one of them and the winner with I believe 30+. Also here in Ohio after it was settled and the deer started becoming harder to find there is an account where the N.A. would, in the spring bring in does and kill them by making fawn sounds. They were strictly warned to stop the practise.

A few other things like scent control and cleansing, but not much more.

HNI Jim

I did a report on this for school and the book said the only time they did this was when the winter was coming and food would be scarce, I think it is highly effective way for preparing for the winter.

iamyourhuckleberry

Keep in mind, back then the only rules were those associated with survival...which meant there were no rules. I have been on archaeological sites were buffs were driven off cliffs. The top layer of animals show signs of being butchered. The buffalo at the bottom of the pile were unscathed. Think about the enormous mass acculated in such a pile. The meat on the buffalo closer to the bottom was just unattainable. It more than likely soured from the heat coming off of those carcasses above. Trust me, The indians made use of everything they could get. I have also been to kill site where the indians used 22s to kill wildlife. Of course it's all spectulation but Joe Brave would stand high abovehis prey on clifffs.His prey would walk, unknowingly under, and Joe would release his22 pound boulder. The weigh and the fall of such a projectile was enough to make animal pancakes. Again, you had to be resourceful to survive back then. A person rarely live to see his 40th b-day...and everything they ate was organic (I had to throwthe "organic"in for all the health nut who believe thier way is better...We have cheated death by twice that average age presently. I do not know if I want to live forever...)

cptleo1

If you get a chance pick up the book: Ishi: The Last Yahi

Ishi was an Indian who was captured in 1911 in California.

His tribe had nothing to do with white folks.

He was the last one.

Dr Saxon Pope (Pope & Young) took an interest to Ishi and became friends with him.

Ishi taught Pope how to bow hunt !

He didn't care much for Dr Pope CUZ he reeked of tobacco, but taught him anyway.

Pretty interesting reading.