Buffalo hunt....

[millymonster1]

Hi guys n gals I'm interested in lakota history ever since I visited wakapamni district and participated n a traditional sweatlodge could anyone please tell me when was the last traditional buffalo hunt taken by the ogalala.,.kind regards mark from darlington 'england'

[dT]

I am not Lakota. but this subject was talked about briefly here before. I believe that some members of the Lakota tribe are doing buffalo hunts regularly ... maybe a few times each year. So hopefully you will hear back from them about how they do that. It is also possible for you to hunt buffalo on private hunting farms - I think there are some in Missouri. You can use traditional methods if you are good - and brave.

dT

[ladonna]

I can tell you that we hunt buffalo a few times a year for ceremonial uses,
so I don't believe there was a last buffalo hunt because we still hunt

[millymonster1]

Thank you both for your replies...I should of been more clearer what I meant was traditionally by horseback and weaponry as depicated in the film dances with wolves

[dT]

keep in mind that the traditional method you are describing is not without serious risk. you can be injured or killed doing that. there is risk in just galloping a horse across uneven ground, let alone galloping amongst stampeding buffalo and using weapons at the same time.

May I humbly and respectfully suggest that if you want to do something like that - you acquire all the skills needed to do it. Therefore, you need a lot of practice with horse riding, much practice with bow and arrow, and then even more practice putting the two skills together. Native American warriors learned all these techniques from the time they were very young. By the time they were given approval to join the buffalo hunt, the lead warrior was well aware that they were proficient in all the skills necessary.

Perhaps we will be lucky and Ladonna will tell us a bit more about the significance of the buffalo hunt to the Lakota people. The buffalo is a very special animal to them. So there is a lot involved in the hunt, and the way that the meat, skin, and other parts of the animal are used afterwards.

dT

[ladonna]

Tatanka is related to us as we say "as long as the buffalo lives so shall we as a people".
This story goes back to Wind cave, buffalo hunting was a spiritual journey and you are right it
took many years to develop the skill to hunt on horseback. Today we offer buffalo hunts with bow
and arrow but they cost a lot of money $50,000 for one buffalo. We have had people come in the past
where we guild them on a buffalo hunt.

[dT]

Ladonna. Interesting.
I know there was a custom amongst many Native Americans to respect the animal that was being hunted. I am sure that Lakota warriors understood that the buffalo must give up its own spirit so that people could live by eating its meat. Is there a special ceremony that is done before the hunt ... prayers are said for the buffalo and also for the warriors participating in the hunt that day?

thanks,
dT

[chicheman]

Here something I found about the last Lakota traditional buffalo hunts in the 19th Century, said been in 1883 :

digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3229&context=greatplainsquarterly (see especially p. 117)

(online article. by Jeffrey Ostler, "The last buffalo hunt" and beyond Plains Sioux Economical Strategies in the early Reservation Period, 2001)

[almont]

Possibly related information: If you Google "hornaday buffalo" you can find some information on Hornaday's 1886 expedition to eastern Montana to collect buffalo specimens for the Smithsonian before the species went extinct. He mounted a good-sized effort with wagons and guns and scoured the area for quite a while before finding a small herd of 24 I think, and killing them all. But that was all he found. 1886. So, there was clearly not much out there to hunt on a tribal scale at that time.

A few of the Hornaday animals' remains were taken to the Smithsonian where they were mounted and displayed for a long time and then put into storage, I think in the mid-1950s. In the 1990s they were re-discovered, the mounts were conserved and they are now on display at the agricultural museum in Ft. Benton, MT.

almont

[dT]

yes almont and chicheman ... you bring forward stories of a time when the buffalo were eliminated. A time of great pain and sorrow for the Lakotas, I am sure it must have been. When the buffalo no longer came - they must have wondered if their own future had also disappeared. But they did endure that long period of isolation and pain, and will become stronger because of it.

dT

[almont]

Yes--I've found so much sadness in the story of the Hornaday buffalo hunt since first hearing of it.
almont

[dT]

I am still hoping that Ladonna will return and tell us a little bit about the traditions of her people today before a Buffalo Hunt. I suspect that there are traditions that are followed, as well as practical preparations for the hunt.

dT

[ladonna]

how much do we put on the internet i am unsure of
We have ceremonies before the hunt
We pray for the hunter and our relative the buffalo
We tell the story of our relative and how he gave his life.
the hunt follows that story
we bring offering,
we pray
they hunt
they kill
then we place sage in the mouth of our relative and ask
for forgivness for taken his life and we sing
Then we start to butcher we take out the liver first and
everyone on the hunt eats the fresh liver as it is steaming,
today we bring the kids out to be a part of the kill and teach them the prayers and the songs
we still have tradition buffalo kills for our ceremonies on each of the reservation
(this is a man's topic) so i can't not say anymore

[dT]

thanks very much for sharing Ladonna.
As I suspected - your ceremony is very detailed.
As I read your words, what comes through most strongly about how the Lakota do the preparation for the hunt - is their RESPECT for all life. I think that is the really essential thing ... the point of view that living beings are connected and the taking of life is not a random act.

As you know, we do not see hunters in western civilization show the same regard for life. Instead those hunters focus just on getting a trophy or getting meat. So a deep appreciation about the circle of life is lost. I do not want to say that everyone is this way in the world, but this cheapening of life is all too common.

dT