The growth and success of the fur trade depended on the men and women of the First Nations and Métis Nation, while the competition between the HBC and the Northwest Company would forge a new era.
Plains-type Blackfoot arrow with iron metal point. Feathers and point are fastened to the shaft with sinew thread. A section of the shaft has been painted with blue pigment to indicate ownership and perhaps a spiritual aspect of this hunting tool and weapon.
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Related Material Read more about hunting - enter 'hunting' in the search box to your left.
Check the Beaver Index - e.g., Montagnais Cross-Bows, by J. Allan Burgesse, December 1953.
Did
You Know? With increased access to metal goods, the flint arrow point was replaced by metal versions such as that made from iron barrel hoops. Hunters traded bison robes for the metal hoops.
Arrow shafts were fashioned from sarvis or serviceberry, chokecherry or ash wood. The feathers from eagles, hawks, crows and geese were used for the fletching and chokecherry wood was preferred for making bows.
Archery contests were popular among young boys who acquired the necessary proficiency in the use of the bow and arrow by participating in games that developed their skills.
Although the Blackfoot had access to guns in the first half of the 19th century, they preferred to hunt game, especially bison, with bows and arrows until firearms obtained through fur traders were more dependable.
Firearms were expensive trade items, and bison hunters had difficulty reloading a muzzle-loading trade gun while mounted on a horse.
By 1870, they had access to more effective breech-loading, repeating firearms.
