what’s wrong with this picture?

bear -

here's a bigger picture. i'll answer your questions below......

>>>Why would two intelligent hunters use "wolf robes" to sneak up in???<<<

simply put: this is what people used before the days of RealTree and MossyOak. no horses, no guns, so they use this "camo" to sneak in closer. a couple of wolves aren't going to disturb a herd of buffalo. a pack of them might bother a solitary buffalo, but not a whole herd against two.

>>>my guess is that the buff would attack and trample the dudes.  Darwin would eliminate these guys from the gene pool once again.<<<

it's very possible that they would be trampled. that's why only the best and bravest volunteered for the job. families needed food, so they did it. as for darwin, if they WOULDN'T have found a way to get within arrow range (tough bone, hide and muscle, vital organs well-protected), darwin would have eliminated them long ago.

>>>I think, again, the artist painted an image 'he' had not a true representation of the native life.<<<

catlin lived with the indians (most notably the mandan) for quite an extended period of time. i can look it up. he learned about, observed and deptcited the indians in great detail. his artistic talent might be lacking in some eyes, but he was very much an anthropologist as well as an artist, and he was very meticulous in his observations.....

Ron,

Why not use a part of an old buffalo robe?  It would seem to this guy that a buffalo robe would be easier to get than a wolf hide.  What hide did they use to sneak up on the wolf.

It is funny, because I was out hunting last week and noticed again how close you could get to wild game animals it you lay close over top of a horse and just graze into mule deer and antelope.  I was thinking of using a short recurve bow and 'grazing' into a small herd of elk.  Assuming your horse would hold still, I think I could get a shot off into an elk???  but I haven't tried it...probably to messed up to get a chance at it.  Interesting as my thoughts were on this subject last week while stalking mule deer in open country.

BEAR

It has been a few years since i read the Lewis-Clark Journal but seems i remember lots of references to white wolves and white grizzly bears????

BEAR

I'm w/ BK I think they're going with the wind right into the buffs

Only other thing is that I didn't see any buffalo chips out there in the prairie.  All them buffs and no chips?  Come on! If so that's got to be the 2nd most full of shit herd I've ever seen. 

First herd of course is Marshall University's Thundering Herd football team

FWIW, i am looking right now at a very good facsimile of the original and the bows are strung and they do have arrows.

bear, sometimes a buff robe was used, especially when they were preparing to run them over cliffs. lot of white wolves out tehre in the old days, the griz bears were called white because of their grizzled look. in fact, great falls has an island on the missouri river running through town named WHITE BEAR ISLAND in reference to lewis's run-in with a large nasty specimen of ursus horriblus. yes, there were many wolves, grizzly bears and even elk on the plains. it was only after they were chased into the mountains that they became known as high-country animals.

good observations with the grass, and for that matter, the buffalo chips, but not what i was looking for. i do notice that in another part of the painting, the grass is going the opposite way, so i cannot speak for the wind. also, keep in mind that the second, larger image is a lithograph of the original painting, and as such has some details and lines not intended by the original artist. if i can find a better pic of the original painting, i will post it. unfortunatley, the one i am looking at right now cannot be scanned.

take a good look at EVERYTHING in the opening post, and i will provide the answer tomorrow......

Date of Death of the artist. 

                            Bronco