Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 41 



of a river, where the slippery hooves of the bison would cause them 

 to fall. Small parties of hunters could not employ these tecliniques 

 for lack of sufficient personnel. They would instead "run" the bison, 

 that is, charge in and shoot as many animals as possible before the 

 herd escaped through flight. 



Cows and young buffaloes were the ones most sought after, as their 

 meat was tender and their hides were soft. Some bulls also were 

 killed, however, as their thick neck hide was needed for the manufac- 

 ture of shields and moccasin soles. PLC stated that although other 

 tribes used animal disguises, such as wolf hides, in stalking the buffalo 

 and other game, he had never heard of the Ponca doing so. 



Like buffalo, elk and deer were sometimes hunted by driving them 

 onto the ice in winter so that they would lose their footing and could 

 be more easily killed. LMD and AMC told stories of winter bear 

 hunts in the Black Hills region. AMC stated that Ponca hunters 

 often painted the area around their eyes black when on a winter hunt 

 to avoid snow blindness. Wlien traveling in the Eockies, the Ponca 

 hunted Kocky Mountain sheep. 



PLC, OK, and AMC all mentioned hunting beaver and muskrat with 

 dogs. A group of men and dogs would move along a stream, the men 

 wading, looking for beaver and muskrat dens. When one was located 

 the dogs would dig the animal out and the hunters would club it to 

 death. Eaccoons were hunted with dogs as well. PLC mentioned 

 another type of hunting, in which dogs circled the game and caused 

 it to keep doubling back by leaving their scent, which it would refuse 

 to cross. Finally the circle would be small enough so that the animal 

 would be within range of the hunter's arrow or bullet.^^ 



Fowling does not seem to have been an important Ponca activity, 

 though birds were hunted to some extent. According to PLC, birds 

 were usually stalked by individual hunters. The area now forming 

 the northern end of Niobrara State Park, near Niobrara, Nebr., 

 was known as a good place to shoot ducks and geese ( JLE) . The late 

 Northern Ponca Chief Wliite-sliirt once told JLE that he had brought 

 down 100 birds with a single shot of his musket from a stand at the 

 end of this island. JLE considered this somewhat of a sportsman's 

 exaggeration, but admitted that the hunting was "awfully good" along 

 the Missouri in the old days. 



The main birds taken in the past were geese, ducks, and pinnated 

 grouse. At the present time the Northern Ponca hunt ducks and geese 

 as formerly, but the Chinese ringneck pheasant has now replaced the 

 grouse as the principal upland game bird. Eagles, hawks, owls, crows, 



3* I find my credulity Is strained a bit at this point. PLC insists that such a procedure 

 was followed, however. 



