Ute indian tribe big game hunting

Notch the month and day of harvest and sign the permit immediately after harvesting the animal. Detach the backing from the permit and affix the permit to the carcass, preferably on a leg. All big game must be securely tagged with the carcass tag provided by the Division of Wildlife Resource Management prior to transportation. Tagging instructions are printed on the back of permits. If numerous trips are required to remove the carcass from the field, the tag should remain attached to the portion of the carcass left in camp or vehicle.

Depending on the season, species hunted, and whether a harvested animal is to be transported off-reservation, validation of the harvest may be required. The validation requirements are as follows:.

Validation must take place within 24 hours of the kill. To arrange validation, contact the Division of Wildlife Resource Management or the Southern Ute Tribal Rangers during regular business hours, or contact Southern Ute Dispatch outside of regular business hours. A Division representative or Ranger will inspect the carcass and attach a validation tag. If arranging a meeting with a Division representative or Ranger is not possible, a validation number can be obtained by contacting the Division of Wildlife Resource Management during regular hours, or Southern Ute Dispatch during off-hours.

The validation number will be given to the hunter over the telephone, and this number must then be written on the carcass tag by the hunter. For the Non-Member Cow Elk Hunt, harvested cow elk must be taken to an established check station for inspection and validation.

Information on locations and dates for check stations is provided when permits are issued. When validation of a harvested animal is not required e. Evidence of the sex of harvested mule deer, elk, wild turkeys, and mountain lions must remain naturally attached to carcasses while transporting animals from the field, while in camp, or until the animal is validated if necessary.

Evidence of sex for wild turkeys is the beard for males. For mountain lions, the reproductive organs of both male and females must be left attached for sex identification purposes. CWD is degenerative brain disease of deer and elk that takes time to progress but is always fatal to the infected animal. CWD is most prevalent in adult male mule deer greater than two years old. There is no evidence that CWD can spread between infected animals and humans, however the Division does not recommend consuming meat of tested animals until tests results are obtained and the Division does not recommend consuming meat from CWD positive animals.

Testing is voluntary and will be free of charge for tribal members wishing to have their animals sampled. The Division will test any deer or elk that tribal members wish to have sampled.

They traveled throughout Ute territory on familiar trails that crisscrossed the mountain ranges of Colorado. They came to know not only the terrain but the plants and animals that inhabited the lands. The Utes developed a unique relationship with the environment learning to give and take from Mother Earth.

They obtained soap from the root of the yucca plant. The yucca was used to make rope, baskets, shoes, sleeping mats, and a variety of household items. The three leaf sumac and willow were used to weave baskets for food and water storage.

They learned how to apply pitch to ensure their containers were water-tight. They made baskets, bows, arrows, other domestic tools, and reinforcements for shade houses. Chokecherry, wild raspberry, gooseberry, and buffalo berry were gathered and eaten raw. Occasionally juice was extracted to drink and the pulp was made into cakes or added to dried seed meal and eaten as a paste or cooked into a mush.

Ute women would use seeds from various flowers or grasses and add them to soup. The three leaf sumac would be used in tea for special events. The people would harvest roots with a tool called a digging stick. The digging stick was pointed and about three to four feet long. Roots collected were the sego mariposa lily, yellow pond lily, yampa or Indian carrot.

The amaranth plant was gathered and the seeds were obtained with a tool called a seed beater, similar to winnowing. Amaranth seeds were often eaten raw, the Indian potato Orogenia linearifolia and wild onion were used in soups or eaten raw. They could be dried for later use or ground into a flour to make stews thicker.

Utes would use earthen ovens to cook food. They would prepare the food items and place them into a four-foot deep hole lined with stones. A fire was built on top of the stones and the food was placed in layers of damp grass and heated rocks. These items would then be covered with dirt to cook over night. The prickly pear cactus was another food source.

The flower and fruit were either eaten raw or boiled or roasted. The inner bark of the tree is very nutritious and was yet another food source for the people. The Utes harvested the inner bark of the ponderosa pine for making healing compresses, tea and for healing. The scarred ponderosa trees are still visible in Colorado forests. The healing trees are evidence of the Utes early presence in the land and their close relationship to their ecosystem.

When the Ute people were forcibly placed reservations they could no longer travel on their familiar trails, to gather or hunt for food. As more and more elders pass they take traditional knowledge about plants and their uses with them. In the past the Ute vocabulary included many words and their uses for plants. Unfortunately, these ancient words have been lost.

A medicinal plant used by the Utes is Bear root Ligusticum portieri also commonly known as osha. Bear root grows throughout the Rocky Mountains, in elevations over 7, feet.

The plant has antibacterial and antiviral powers and continues to be used to treat colds and upper respiratory ailments. It can be chewed or brewed into teas. It can be used topically, in baths, compresses, and ointments to treat indigestion, infections, wounds and arthritis.

Some southwest tribes use it before going into the desert areas to deter rattlesnakes. The Utes have a special relationship with the plant and treat it with great respect, harvesting only what they need and always giving prayers before they harvest. Ute elders knew which plants should be gathered and which plants were dangerous.

One has to be very careful when harvesting wild plants as many toxic plants can be mistaken for wild onion or bear root. Poison hemlock Conium macalatum appears much the same as the bear root but is dangerous. Peppermint and wild tobacco were collected and used in many important ceremonies. The routes the Utes established were used by other Native American tribes and Europeans. The Ute Trail became known as the Spanish Trail used by Spanish explorers as early as the fifteenth century when Alvar Nunez Caveza de Vaca and Juan de Onate were sent from Spain to explore the uninhabited areas of Texas and New Mexico, claiming vast lands for their Spanish rulers.

During the sixteenth century Spaniards began to colonize New Mexico, establishing their domination wherever possible. These changes were to have far reaching impacts upon the Ute people. Not only did the European bring livestock and tools, they also brought small pox, cholera and other diseases that would decimate the population of the Ute people. Contact with the European was to end a way of life the people had known for centuries.

Contact between the Southern Utes and the Spanish continued, with trade soon developing. Utes were known for their tanned elk and deer hides which they traded along with dried meat tools and weapons. However, as the Spanish became more aggressive conflicts began to arise. When Santa Fe was established as the northern capital of the Spanish colonists they captured Utes and other Native Americans as slave laborers to work in their fields and homes.

Around Ute captives escaping from the Spanish in Santa Fe fled, taking with them Spanish horses, thus making the Utes one of the first Native American tribes to acquire the horse. However, tribal historians tell of the Utes acquiring the horse as early as the s. Already skilled hunters, the Utes used the horse to become expert big game hunters.

They began to roam further away from their home camps to hunt buffalo that migrated over the vast prairies east of their mountain homes, and explore the distant lands. The Utes began to depend upon the buffalo as a source for much of their items. It took only one buffalo to feed several families, and fewer hides were required to make structures and clothing. The Utes already had a reputation as defenders of their territories now became even fiercer warriors.