Click here to go to the page I made on; what were the plains and who lived there
The bison, or buffalo's of the plains were without a doubt the Indians number one resource. They used a buffalo for just about everything including food, shelter, clothing, tools and food. The Indians made use of practically every part of its body. The hides could be used as many things. They could make tipi coverings, clothing, moccasins (what Indians wore for shoes), quivers (used to hold arrows on the Indians back), medicine bags, shields, drums, saddles, stirrups, and later they could make gun cases. The fur could be used to make things like ropes and pillows. The horns could be used to make utensils, like spoons and cups. The Indians made their tools like knifes, shovels and weapons from the bones. They even found a use for the stomach. They would use it as a cooking pot, or a water container. Buffalo travelled in the millions on the open plains.
The plains Indians had many ways of killing the animal. Before they had horses it was much more difficult. The main way was to put buffalo furs over their backs and move into the herds without getting noticed and then they would pull out a bow and arrow and start shooting at them. There would be almost all the men in the tribe participating in the hunt. They would surround them and then mass kill them. The bows were more efficient than guns because once they shot their guns it took them longer to reload. With the bows the hunters could identify their arrows so they would know which buffalo that they killed. An average hunter would get 1 to 2 buffalo. A good hunter would get 3 to 4, and a master hunter would get 5+ buffalos. The hunt was a major part of any tribes culture. Most tribes would have a dance or ritual they would do before each hunt.
The people of the plains also had a famous way of killing a lot of buffalo before winter. It was called a buffalo jump. They would attack the buffalo while they were right next to the cliff they were going to run them off. The Indians would use men on feet and horses. They would jump out and scare the buffalo. They would form a semi circle around them and chase them off the cliff. They would only do this before winter so they would have lots of food during the cold months. A popular tourist attraction in Alberta is the Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, used by Black Foot Plains Indians thousands of years ago.
If you would like to visit the head smashed in site you can visit their site at
http://www.head-smashed-in.com/