buffalo jump...

...and a sobering thought at the end of a birthday celebrated with cherry bread and candles for breakfast and a day of learning to fly fish (a lot of tangling line but wonderful when the cast works!) and shooting but no hunting.

Before  domestication of horses and guns and arrows used as hunting tools from horseback, cliffs were used as tools for hunting bison by the Shoshone speaking people and other nations that called this area home.  Hunters chose 'jump sites' by their geographical features including trails connecting water sources and grazing areas to which bison returned annually, the cliff over which the bison were driven and a butchering area on the grassy slopes beneath the cliff edge. (M's cousin T tells us that in patches below the cliff the grass in spring grows green and lush in earth rich with nutrients from generations of butchered animals.)
Drive lines (man made cairns of stones) funneled the herd towards the cliff led by the buffalo runners and provided cover for the men (hazers) who kept the animals within the drive lines.
Following the hunt animals were butchered, much of the meat dried and stored for winter use. Every part of the buffalo served a purpose from food to clothing and shelter, tools and decoration and even flyswats (the tail!)

Our steak dinner at Sir Scott's Oasis Club in Manhattan (the Montana version) comes with much less effort.