Confederated Umatilla Journal - Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla ...

The Bronson hunting party poses behind the hides of three buffalo they killed on the west side of Yellowstone National Park in January. Bryson Bronson, hunt leader for the
crew Jan. 21-23, was the first member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation to kill a buffalo in perhaps 130 years. “It was like going on your first hunt
again, I guess,” said Bronson, whose family is renowned for their hunting prowess. “It didn’t really dawn on me that I was shooting the first one until later.” Members of the
Bronson hunt group included, front row, Thomas Soaring Eagle, Reuben Bronson, Bryson G. Bronson, Quanah Picard, James Campbell,and back row, James Bronson Jr., Richard Bronson, KC Picard,
and Preston Bronson.
Photo by Tribal Game Enforcement OfficerJim Curry
traditionally hunting groups of as many as 1,000 warriors
spent upwards of three years at a time hunting
buffalo on the plains.
“It was amazing. That herd was a quarter of a mile
away and then those two bulls sacrificed themselves,”
said Sams, noting that Jess Nowland, another helper,
said a prayer over the downed buffalo.
Sams took along his son, Chauncey, and his
nephew, Dakota, to witness the hunt.
“We spent a lot of time leading up to the hunt,
telling them about how warriors would hunt for two
years at a time that they were
‘It was
amazing.
That herd
was a
quarter
of a mile
away and
then those
two bulls
sacrificed
themselves.’
in a lot of danger and had to
protect themselves against other
Indians who may not want
them in their territory. Where
it took six to nine months
by horse to get to where the
bison were, and six to nine
months to dry the meat and
come home. Now we make it
in 12 hours. They learned a lot
about how it used to be when
we were on horseback and
what it’s like today with our
modern conveniences.”
Sams said it was a privilege
to “witness how tribal members
come together to take
down such a large and magnificent
animal” and how good
it was to share in the hunt with
our “cousins,” the Nez Perce.
Jim Marsh took the group’s second bull, one they
called “Big Red,” that came out of a safety zone near
Yellowstone National Park, only to be shot by Marsh
from 75 yards.
“Late on Sunday morning we were watching this
bull that had been terrorizing the hay bales. He came
out of the fenced area and I took him with my first
shot,” Marsh said.
The process of gutting the animal, dragging it
back to the road, removing the hide and quartering
the meat took the Marsh group about four hours per
animal.
Aaron Ashley stands over the biggest bull taken by Tribal hunters.
That’s the Yellowstone River in the backgbround.
Photo by Jim Curry
The third group, a 12-person unit that included
three youngsters, took five buffalo on the
weekend of Feb. 25-26.
Aaron Ashley, the default hunting party leader,
said he and Richard Bronson were headed out of
town after three days of unsuccessful hunting when
Tribal Game Officer Curry let him know about a
couple of bulls he’d seen.
“I really wanted to go home; we’d had it. But the
bulls were there. We had to wait for them to cross the
line (out of the safety zone), then Richard (Bronson)
took the first and I shot mine second,” Ashley said.
Curry said Ashley’s was the biggest bull of all, with
perhaps more than 900 pounds of meat. He estimated
hind quarters each weighing 250 pounds and front
shoulders weighing 200 pounds. He guestimated the
blackstrap alone weighed probably 70-80 pounds.
Group hunting was a bit awkward Ashley said,
because hunters could not work in a group of 12 but,
rather, separated to drive roads in the area.
“We glassed the hills from different views to see if
any were in shoot zones,” Ashley said. “It was kind of
hard to communicate (with cell phones) the way we
were split up.”
Ashley said he’d never been that close to a buffalo
to see their size.
“At first there was disbelief that we were actually
over there,” he said. “Looking at the landscape, we
saw seven way off in the distance. I had mixed emotions.
I was overwhelmed with joy with the group we
had. Being able to hunt together was cool; back home
we don’t get to hunt together like that.”
Ashley’s hunting crew included David Wolf and
his grandson, Aiden; Jeremy Wolf, who picked up his
uncle Joe Lewis and his boy, Devayne, on his way;
Jeremy Barkley and his son, Devon; and Ashley, who
picked up Richard Bronson and Kyle McGuire, then
Bobbie Parrish to make it an even dozen.
The 11-hour drive wasn’t part of the celebration,
but the hunt was a birthday present to himself for David
Wolf. He bought a new rifle for the hunt and said
he was glad to have the big gun so that the buffalo he
shot wouldn’t suffer.
Jeremy Wolf and Nez Perce buddy Aaron Penny
shot buffalo on the first day after following them
more than a half mile through knee deep snow. Penny
had snow-shoes by Wolf just tramped along in boots.
Continued to Page 27
26 Confederated Umatilla Journal
March 2011