Bison and the Native Americans
In North America, “buffalo” almost always refers to the American bison. This magnificent animal is intrinsic to Native American culture and heritage, particularly for the tribes of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne River Lakota, for example, refer to themselves as “Buffalo People”.
Plains Tribes, including the Lakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Crow, Kiowa, Pawnee, and others, traditionally coexisted with and shared an extremely close relationship with the bison whose lands they shared. They used every part of the animals they hunted for food, clothing, and other important goods. For these people, the bison were intrinsic to life and survival: hides and “wool” were used for warmth and clothing, meat for food, horns as drinking vessels, and bones to make weapons, tools, and adornments. After a hunt, they always held a ceremony to give thanks to the spirits for the animals’ sacrifice; herds were culled by the Native Americans mindfully and in such a way that the bison ultimately thrived.
Before European settlers pushed west, the American bison population was around 60 million. Hunting by Native Americans kept numbers stable. By the mid 1880s, however, bison numbers had been decimated by professional settler hunting (as well as shameful American government policy and actions) to just a few hundred individual animals.
The Rare White Bison
According to Native American lore, the white buffalo (bison) signifies an ancient prophecy that promised humanity and the Earth a new start: that prayers are being heard and great, positive change is coming. The birth of any white bison is an incredibly rare occurrence that invokes this prophecy.
A white buffalo is a symbol of hope.
Big Medicine
Born in 1933, Big Medicine is the most famous rare white buffalo. He was born (and lived out his life) on the Flathead Reservation (National Bison Range) in Western Montana and was given his name by the local Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d’Orielle people. Later on, the local white American range staff often referred to him as “Old Whitey”.
When Big Medicine was born, a white buffalo was statistically just one birth in a herd of 5 million. The birth of Big Medicine in a herd of only 500 was particularly notable. As a rare and sacred white buffalo, local Native Americans believed he had supernatural powers and brought good news. The Blackfeet tribe also considered him to be “good medicine”.
Unlike most other white buffalo, he was not an albino; he had a white coat with a brown topknot between his horns. With blue eyes and pale horns and hooves, he markedly stood out from the rest of his herd.
In his prime, Big Medicine was 6 feet tall at his hump, 12 feet in length from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail, and he weighed more than 1900 pounds. He became an extremely popular tourist stop in Montana, only being outranked by Yellowstone NP.
During the first decade or so of life, he lived with his wider bison herd in a large pasture; however, he battled with other big bulls for dominance. He was eventually relocated to a smaller pasture where he lived more harmoniously with cows for a less stressful life, and he sired several offspring.
Most bison live between 15-20 years on a range. He lived 26 years in total, which was a very old age for a bison bull, and his physical condition had deteriorated markedly since his prime. He lived out his senior years in a smaller display pasture, where he was often seen standing on a rise and proudly overlooking his herd of buffalo cows.
A magnificent creature, Big Medicine now resides mounted in a taxidermied state, exhibited at the Montana Historical Society Museum in Helena.
Big Medicine, Montana Historical Society Museum
Big Medicine Pendleton Blanket
Indian Traders is delighted to offer the stunning Big Medicine Pendleton Blanket. The Oxford measures 64” x 80”. It celebrates the legend of the white buffalo. Shades of green and brown represent Nature’s beauty, while seven white buffalo represent the seven directions (North, East, South, West, Above, Below, Within). Prayer pipes represent the connection between Mankind and the Creator, while the four hands represent the world’s ethnicities and the new beginnings Big Medicine foretold.
This gorgeous design is also available as a Crib Blanket.
Restoring Bison Populations
The near-extinction and recovery of the bison is a major touchpoint in the modern environmental history of the US. There are active efforts dating to the late 1800s to restore American bison populations, which started with the Smithsonian in the 1890s.
The American Bison Society was founded in 1905 with the mission of permanently preserving and increasing the bison population via protective legislation and range establishment.
In 1991, Native American tribes from more than 20 US states formed the InterTribal Buffalo Council. Plains tribes today hold extremely limited buffalo harvests a few times a year; the cultural reclamation of buffalo in a way that also reestablishes and supports the growth of wild herds is an important cultural rite of passage for Native Americans. The InterTribal Buffalo Council also manages more than 32 million acres of tribal lands in the US; bison have been successfully restored to almost 1 million of these.
Today, white bison occur as only 1 in 1 million bison births. The most recent known birth of a rare white bison occurred at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City, Iowa, in April 2026. Sadly, this little one survived only for around 6 weeks (20% of bison calves die naturally soon after birth).
There are several white bison alive today on tribal reservations and private ranches across North America.