Meskwaki Hunting and Game

Subsistence Activities

The Meskwaki followed a seasonal cycle which allowed them to depend on an economy that combined hunting, agriculture, and gathering. These were seasonal occupations that the tribe followed to feed and cloth themselves.

The Meskwaki did not depend on one occupation or one plant or animal. Some tribes did primarily depend on one thing for their major occupation, which in turn drove their main culture. The tribes in the Northwest depended on fishing for their economy, salmon being its most important product. Desert tribes depended on gathering of wild roots and seeds to which the acorn and mesquite bean was their important plant. Plains tribes depended on buffalo as their main animal for food, clothing, and shelter, and finally the tribes in the Southwest and Southeast depended on farming as their main economy. [Students can study a chart describing how tribes lived by clicking here.]

The Meskwaki on the other hand were a seasonal people having annual hunts, harvest, and gathering seasons. This "jack-of-all-trades" way of life left them free to have large villages and small camps any place.  (JLB)

Click here to read about hunting activities. Click on an animal listed below to learn about the use of a mammal, fish, or fowl. Wacochachi's pictograph from the early 1800s offers depictions of the many creatures the Meskwaki encountered in their natural surroundings. Sensitive to sights and sounds around them, Meskwaki were expert trackers and learned to follow the distinctive footprints of each animal.

badger
bear
beaver
birds
buffalo
deer
elk
fish
muskrat
possum
turtle