Game drive system facts for kids
The game drive system is a clever hunting method. It's when hunters guide animals into a special area. This area might be a small space or a dangerous spot. Once the animals are there, it's easier for hunters to catch or kill them. People have used this strategy for a very long time, even in ancient times. If a good spot is found, hunters might use it again and again for many years. This system helps them hunt animals like bison, deer, or elk. It can also be used to capture animals, such as mustangs.
Ancient Hunting Strategies
In places like Rocky Mountain National Park, scientists have found old signs of game drive systems. These signs are from about 3,850 to 3,400 years Before Christ (B.C.). They include 42 low stone walls or piles of stones called cairns. These walls could be hundreds of feet long! They weren't very tall, but they were enough to guide animals.
Hunters used these walls to direct animals like bison, sheep, deer, or elk. They would herd the animals towards other hunters waiting with weapons. It might have taken up to 25 people to make a game drive work! The hunters used tools like darts, atlatls (spear throwers), or spears with sharp stone tips to hunt the animals.
The Jones-Miller Bison Kill Site
The Jones-Miller Bison Kill Site is another great example of an ancient game drive. Around 8,000 B.C., hunters used the natural shape of the land here. They found a deep ditch, called an arroyo or draw, above the Arikaree River basin.
Scientists found the remains of 300 bison in this ditch. They believe hunters carefully guided the bison into this difficult area three times. It was much easier to kill them there. Many of the bison were young calves, so experts think these hunts happened in the late fall or winter. In 1986, Waldo Rudolph Wendel called it the "most carefully studied bison kill" site.
Buffalo Jumps: A Special Game Drive
A buffalo jump is a famous type of game drive system. Here, hunters would herd bison and drive them over a cliff. When the bison fell, their legs would break, making them unable to move. Tribe members waiting below would then finish the hunt using spears and bows.
The Blackfoot Indians called these buffalo jumps "pishkun." This word roughly means "deep blood kettle." Hunting this way was a community event. It started as early as 12,000 years ago and continued until at least 1500 AD. This was around the time horses were brought to the area.
The term "game jumps" is broader. It includes buffalo jumps and other cliffs used to hunt different herding animals, like reindeer. The Native Americans believed that if any buffalo escaped these hunts, the rest of the herd would learn to avoid humans. This would make hunting much harder in the future.
