Many Plains Indian tribes hunted the buffalo

Many Plains Indian tribes hunted the buffalo, they did this for a number of reasons. The buffalo was used in different ways, for example, In order to survive they used the stomach and bladder as a waterproof bag or container. This was extremely important because it was really hot on the Great Plains so they needed to hydrate. Another vital way was that they used the buffalo as a food source they cooked it in a variety of ways such as boiling, roasting and drying it. In the winter it was very cold, too cold to go out hunting but the Sioux tribe still required food so they prepared for that by making pemmican, a long lasting food source consisting dried and shredded buffalo meat mixed with fruit and berries and preserved in melted fat. This was particularly convenient since they didn’t have go hunting during the winter months since they already had sufficient quantity of food to feed everyone but also when they didn’t kill an adequate amount of buffalo in the hunt. An additional essential way was that they used the buffalo hide without hair was to create clothes worn in the summer or hot days and tipi (portable tents that the Plains Indians lived in) covers that provided shelter, kept them dry and warm and shade in the summer. They used the buffalo hide with hair to make warm winter clothes, floor covering, blankets and moccasins (shoes that the native Americans wore) all of this was necessary to protect them from catching a illness. Finally, they used the ribs to make arrow shafts and muscle sinew to make bowstrings. This was imperative because bows and arrows were tremendously valuable as they wouldn’t be able kill the buffalo with their hands and if they weren’t able to kill enough buffalo then the tribe would starve.