Did Lenape Indians hunt Buffalo

Answer 1

While most people are aware that the American bison (buffalo) was historically present in vast herds on the Great Plains of North America, very few people are aware that another species of bison was native to the eastern woodlands area.

This was Bison bison pennsylvanicus, a larger animal than the Plains species and often much darker in colour, that inhabited the woodlands area and fed on underbrush and small shrubs rather than grass. The arrival of Europeans and firearms opened up a new era of hunting of these and other large game animals such as the eastern elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis), white tailed deer and caribou.

Both the woodlands bison and the eastern elk were hunted to extinction by 1800.

Since the Erie people were practically wiped out by the Iroquois confederacy in the 1600s, it is very likely that they hunted all of these eastern woodlands species - but with bows, making very little difference to the numbers of available animals.

So yes, the Erie people almost certainly did hunt buffalo, but not the same buffalo that were found on the Plains.