536 TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI [eth. ann. te 



The bull's head is often painted and bound round with scarlet 

 cloth, with painted feathers or sticks stuck in, and an address made 

 to it announcing that it is done by the hunter to prevent the animal 

 from goring him. Likewise the Assiniboin, when they undertake to 

 swim the Missouri, will tie to a stick some dried buffalo guts, grease, 

 and bladder, and stick the same in the water, say to it, "This is to 

 enable me to cross without accident, let no wind blow, nor pain 

 take me in crossing." They are not expert swimmers like the Crow 

 Indians, and the fear of the undertaking causes the sacrifice. In 

 all these things they are very particular and superstitious, asserting 

 that if these ceremonies are neglected some accident will certainly 

 happen to the person who despises these powers. 



Deer Hunting.— A good deer hunter must use the rifle. Shotguns 

 do not shoot with certainty. This is the reason why all these Indians 

 are poor deer hunters. They use the northwest shotgun altogether 

 except a few of the Sioux, who hunt antelope and bighorn with the 

 rifle. The art of deer hunting may be thus divided : Finding the 

 deer, approaching it, shooting it, cutting it up, and carrying it home. 

 They are hunted in the timber by a man alone and on foot. He must 

 be well acquainted with the habits of the animal, where it is to be 

 found at different hours in the day, what it feeds upon at different 

 seasons, to know by the tracks if it is traveling, grazing, running, 

 retiring to rest, or going to water ; he must be quick sighted, a good 

 walker, and go cautiously through the bush when near the game. 

 The morning and evening are the best times to hunt them, as they 

 are then on the edge or borders of the woods where grass is found, 

 or in open places in the bottoms; returning into the thick bushes 

 for a few hours in the middle of the day. The hunter travels fast 

 until he comes near the place where he judges a deer is to be found, 

 then proceeds very slowly and silently, looking in every direction, 

 always keeping the wind in his favor until the animal is seen. 

 He then approaches it stepping from tree to tree, bush to bush, crawl- 

 ing and creeping, hiding himself entirely from its view, by every 

 means, and making no noise. When he thinks he is within range 

 he rises and fires quickly and the deer falls. It is then skinned and 

 cut up, the meat packed in the hide, and it tied in a bundle by the 

 skin of the legs, in such a way as to form a collar, which is drawn 

 over his forehead, by lying or sitting down, and slipping it over, 

 then rising up with the weight between his shoulders he starts home- 

 ward. If more than one is wanted he hangs the first on a tree thus 

 cut up, and proceeds in quest of others, sometimes killing three or 

 four in a day, which he returns for with his horse or dogs the 

 next day. 



