Northwest tribes resume sacred ritual: Hunting bison

Sunni Man

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Aug 14, 2008
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GARDINER, Mont. — Knee deep in snow, Francis Marsh crouched behind a boulder and peered through the rifle scope at his target 40 yards away. He breathed in deeply to calm his racing heart.

Picturesque mountain peaks rose behind him. The sunlight glittered off the snow, and all was quiet and still.

Ever so slowly, he exhaled, waited, then pulled the trigger.

The bison dropped to its big belly. Francis gasped for air — and with that shot became one of the first members of an Oregon Indian tribe to hunt buffalo in more than a century.

For years, Jim Marsh — Francis' father — had heard stories about his great-grandmother's buffalo-hide teepee, the last of its kind in their family. He'd seen photos of it, but buffalo were a thing of the past.

The Cayuse Indians once traveled hundreds of miles on horseback to hunt bison, a lean meat rich in protein and high in cultural significance. Those hunts ended in the late 1800s, as federal agents restricted travel from their reservation on the Columbia River plateau and the decimated bison herds were largely confined to Yellowstone National Park.

Jim Marsh's great-grandfather was the last family member to travel across the Rocky Mountains to hunt bison.

But in 2006, the state of Montana gave permission to the Nez Perce of Idaho and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes of northwest Montana to hunt bison on federal lands outside Yellowstone.

Hunting is illegal in the park, but during harsh winters, bison migrate to lower elevations outside the park in search of food. The tribes' 1855 treaties with the federal government grant them the right to hunt on traditional hunting grounds on open, unclaimed land, such as the current day Gallatin National Forest bordering the park.

Tribes resume sacred ritual: Hunting bison - U.S. news - Life - msnbc.com
 
Uncle Ferd says don't try to ride a bison - dey'll buck ya...

Yellowstone proposes controversial slaughter of 1,000 bison
Thursday 19 November 2015 - National park authorities want to kill one in five animals to bring population down to target size
Yellowstone National Park is proposing to reduce its celebrated bison herd by 1,000 animals this winter by rounding up those wandering into adjacent Montana and delivering them to Native American tribes for slaughter, officials said on Wednesday. The longstanding but controversial annual culling is designed to lessen the risk of straying Yellowstone bison infecting cattle herds in Montana with brucellosis, a bacterial disease carried by many bison, also known as buffalo. Yellowstone bison, the nation’s last sizeable herd of wild, purebred buffalo, are a top attraction for the millions of tourists who annually visit the park, which spans parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

The size of the bison culling varies from year to year, and removing 1,000 animals this winter would mark the largest single reduction since more than 1,600 were taken from the herd in the winter of 2007-2008. The herd was estimated to number some 4,900 head this summer, and the culling - mostly females - is aimed at bringing it closer to its target population of about 3,000 animals. Brucellosis, which can cause pregnant cows and other animals to miscarry their young, is at the centre of a perennial dispute between Montana ranchers and wildlife advocates over management of Yellowstone’s bison. Ranchers also worry about bison overgrazing lands needed to feed livestock.

Federal, state and tribal officials managing the bison are to review the latest culling proposal on Thursday and adopt a final plan before winter. “No formal decision has been made, but the park proposal is for 1,000 fewer bison,” park spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said. Weather is a key factor, with fewer animals likely to migrate out of Yellowstone’s high country to lower elevations in search of food outside the park if snowfall is light. “You can’t predict how many bison will go into the trap,” Montana state veterinarian Marty Zaluski said. “Nature has a way of defying your best expectations.“

More than 700 bison were culled last year, most of them captured and turned over to tribes for slaughter but some killed through hunting. Some tribes, such as the Nez Perce in Idaho, support the program while others oppose it. Jimmy St. Goddard, a spiritual leader of the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana, said the culling, for him, evokes a painful chapter of American history in which US extermination campaigns pushed the massive, hump-backed creatures to the edge of extinction. “Killing these buffalo is shameful,” he said.

Yellowstone proposes controversial slaughter of 1,000 bison

See also:

Bison tosses Australian tourist into air at Yellowstone national park
Tuesday 2 June 2015 - Man, 62, taken to hospital after attack while photographing animal near Old Faithful geyser, where a teenage girl was gored a few weeks earlier
An Australian tourist, 62, survived being tossed in the air three times by a bison while he was visiting Yellowstone national park, US park authorities have said. It is the second time in three weeks a bison has seriously injured a tourist in Yellowstone. Park officials said the man’s injuries were not life-threatening despite being thrown about repeatedly by the animal. The man, whom authorities did not name, was flown by helicopter for medical treatment. Yellowstone officials said several people crowded the bison as it lay near a path not far from the famous Old Faithful geyser on Tuesday morning. The bison charged as the man took photos from a few feet away. Bison can weigh as much as a full-size sedan and run three times faster than a person.

A bison in the Old Faithful area gored a 16-year-old girl from Taiwan as she posed for a picture near the animal on 16 May. The park service said in a statement: “The girl turned her back to the bison to have her picture taken when the bison lifted its head, took a couple of steps and gored her.” The exchange student, who was staying with a US family, was airlifted to hospital for treatment. Yellowstone is home to wild animals including bears, elk, deer, moose, coyotes and wolves, a park official said. “Visitors are reminded that Yellowstone wildlife is wild … and should not be approached, no matter how tame or calm they appear.”

Bison in particular were fast, “unpredictable and dangerous”, the official said. Many believe grizzly bears and wolves are Yellowstone’s most dangerous animals but bison and elk attacked a couple of people in the park every year and were responsible for more injuries, said Yellowstone spokeswoman Amy Bartlett. In the case of the Australian man, he wasn’t the only person to blame, Bartlett said. Other people had crowded around the bison and it was “already getting agitated” before he got out his camera.

Bison tosses Australian tourist into air at Yellowstone national park
 
Hunting the 1,000 females and calves is a simple matter of keeping the remainder of the herds from overgrazing and dying of hunger.

I would hope that such an action is overseen by American Indian tribal authorities to insure the bison are properly slaughtered and all parts used traditionally.

Tanned hides.
Hooves for glue.
Bones for sculpture and other uses.
And so on.
 
Hunting the 1,000 females and calves is a simple matter of keeping the remainder of the herds from overgrazing and dying of hunger.

I would hope that such an action is overseen by American Indian tribal authorities to insure the bison are properly slaughtered and all parts used traditionally.

Tanned hides.
Hooves for glue.
Bones for sculpture and other uses.
And so on.

Opposition to wildlife/game management often is based on the "cute/fuzzy" fixation on individual animals, and ignores the overriding goal of such programs, maintaining the herd, and thus the species.

It's the same thing big game management hunting opponents have an issue with.
 
You people realize of course that MOST Indian hunts for Buffalo back in the "good old days" consisted of finding a convenient cliff and then stampeding the herd over it? Resulting in LOTS of lost meat?
 

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