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Overview
The age-old struggle of man versus beast has ensued within the rugged terrain of the Great Smoky Mountains since humans first encountered the region centuries ago. From the primitive weaponry and prevailing tactics of the Cherokee to the audacious rifle-toting ridge runners, and even a gruesome gang of cannibalistic rogues, these stories are truly a gripping tribute to mountain life and the adventure of the game.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781596294585 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Arcadia Publishing SC |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2008 |
| Series: | Sports |
| Pages: | 128 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
The Origins of Hunting in the Great Smoky Mountains
The Cherokee nation once ruled a kingdom of more than forty thousand square miles — almost seventy thousand square miles if you include areas that they considered their tribal hunting grounds. However, the heart of the Cherokee nation was and is in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Indeed, the most sacred and original mother town of the Cherokee, known as Kituwah, is near present-day Bryson City, North Carolina, in the Ela community that borders the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It was near here that the first Cherokee man, known as Kanati (the Lucky Hunter), and his wife Selu (Corn) first made their home.
The Cherokee referred to themselves as the Yunwiya, or "the real or principal people." Their culture was based on a simple sense of balance known as duyuktv, or the "right way." Basically, the tribe believed that there had to be a careful balance in all aspects of their daily lives. The men were expected to hunt, fish and fight, if need be, to feed and protect their people. The women farmed, cooked and took care of the children, along with other duties around the village.
But the "right way" of life was more complex than just a simple division of labor. Another part of this balance was about taking and using only what they needed, both in hunting and foraging for native plants. They wasted nothing and utilized all the parts of any animal they killed. The hunters usually asked for blessings and sang sacred songs before their hunts, and later they gave thanks to both the Creator and the animal itself after the kill.
The Cherokee were renowned as skilled and resourceful hunters and fishermen. Though a humble people, they still enjoyed sharing stories of their hunting adventures and tribal legends. Many of their ancient creation stories or myths revolved around Cherokee hunting heroes and their battles with the sometimes supernatural creatures of their era.
Most of these stories had a moral or important point to make for future generations to learn from. Others were simply humorous tales told for pleasure. Many of them would have been lost or never publicly recorded were it not for the Irish scholar James Mooney. Mooney was sent to the Qualla Boundary in 1887 by the director of the Bureau of American Ethnology. A part of his mission was to study and document the plants of the Great Smoky Mountains and their relation to Cherokee foods and medicine.
Mooney did that and much more when a segment of his report to the bureau was first published in 1900. It later was released in its entirety and became better known as Myths of the Cherokee and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. This amazing body of work included the first written record of many ancient tribal stories, medicinal formulas and sacred songs. Even today, it is recognized as the definitive historical study of the tribe. It also includes some of the earliest Cherokee hunting tales and legends.
Mooney's most valuable sources of information were the esteemed Cherokee shaman known only as Swimmer and the respected tribal patriarch John Ax. Swimmer was more than fifty years old in 1887, spoke no English and still lived and dressed in the traditional tribal way. Ax, too, was a traditionalist and was more than eighty years old when he first met Mooney. As a boy, Ax had been a keeper of the fire for many ancient rituals and ceremonies and he knew much of the old ways. Both men were Confederate Civil War veterans, having served in the Cherokee Legion of Colonel Will Thomas. It was with their assistance that Mooney first learned of the original Cherokee hunter Kanati and his wife Selu. It is also where we will learn how the traditional Cherokee believed the sport of hunting first originated in the Great Smoky Mountains, as well as why the region can be so challenging and difficult to hunt in.
Swimmer and Ax told Mooney that after creating the perfect paradise for them to live in, the Creator then made the first Cherokee man and woman, Kanati and Selu. Mooney believed that their home place was near Pilot Knob, an area known today as the Shining Rock wilderness, not far from present-day Waynesville, North Carolina. The couple prospered here, living the "right way" in perfect balance and bliss. Their homeland was a paradise, devoid of any harmful pests such as rodents, insects or snakes. Better still, there was no sin or sickness in this wonderful place. It could easily be compared to the Garden of Eden in Christian beliefs.
The Creator had provided for the couple in every way, even arranging for their food to be provided for them in a simple but unique manner. Kanati's name means Lucky Hunter in English, and rightfully so, for no hunter has ever had a more fortunate situation than he did in those ancient times. He needed few of the skills and talents that we recognize and admire in later-day hunters. To provide meat for his family, Kanati only had to take his bow and travel to a nearby cave. Along the way he would stop and make some arrows for his bow. Upon arriving at the cave, he would roll the rock covering the entrance aside, and out would run a fat, juicy deer or a plump turkey for him to harvest. Kanati would quickly close the entrance to the large cave, kill the deer or bird, field dress it and return home.
The Creator had also provided a sort of magical storehouse from which Selu could obtain the corn and beans that her family enjoyed. She would enter the storehouse with a basket, and after uttering some sacred words, could fill it with an endless supply of these vegetables. The key to this utopian lifestyle was for the couple to use only what they needed. They were to waste nothing to ensure that their perfectly balanced life could be maintained.
Kanati and Selu soon had a son and they flourished as a family, living a balanced and happy life. However, trouble arrived one day when their son was playing near a stream and met a magical playmate who would later come to be known as Wild Boy. It was difficult for the adults to see Wild Boy, as he always ran away when they approached. But eventually with the help of their son, Kanati and Selu were able to capture and tame Wild Boy. Soon he became their adopted son. Kanati quickly determined that Wild Boy had supernatural powers and that he had originated from the blood of game that Selu had washed off at the edge of the river.
As the boys grew into young men, they often wondered how Kanati and Selu so easily produced meat and vegetables for the family. Kanati and Selu were very secretive when they left on their hunting and foraging trips. They always took special caution to ensure that they were not followed.
But both of them underestimated the magical powers of Wild Boy. Wild Boy convinced his brother to accompany him as he attempted to follow Kanati on a hunting trip. The boys secretly stalked their father as best they could until they realized that he was too skilled a woodsman to be tracked by mere mortals. Wild Boy then used his powers to change himself into a piece of bird down, and caught a passing breeze so that he could be blown onto his adopted father's shoulder.
Wild Boy in his spirit shape watched closely as Kanati stopped to make arrows. He then flew off Kanati's shoulder and returned to his human form to tell his brother what he had seen. Kanati, thinking that he was safe from being followed, let his guard down and the brothers were able to catch up to him as he approached the sacred game cave.
They watched in amazement as Kanati rolled back the rock and a large deer bounded out. He then closed the cave as usual and killed the deer. The boys could not believe their eyes. They quickly returned home ahead of Kanati, who was slowed by the burden of the dead buck. He had no idea that he had been followed.
Shortly after that, Wild Boy and his brother decided to go on a hunting trip of their own. They made two bows and stopped to make seven arrows on their way to the cave. Upon their arrival at the cave, they quickly rolled the rock from its entrance and a deer ran out, quickly followed by another and yet another. The boys in their excitement began shooting the deer, but they forgot to close the cave entrance. Soon a huge herd of deer stampeded from the mouth of the cave. The last of the deer eventually galloped out, only to be replaced by herds of other four-legged animals, all of them coming out so fast and in such a large volume that it was impossible to close the cave. Raccoons, foxes, panthers, squirrels, rabbits, elk and groundhogs — every four-legged wild animal now known to man except the bear — ran furiously from the cave. They were followed by screeching, squawking flocks of every kind of bird imaginable. The sky blackened and the ground thundered from the sounds of these animals running or flying from the cave.
The boys were overwhelmed and helpless to stop this onslaught of beasts and birds. They watched in awe as the world filled with an entirely new kingdom of wildlife. Animals were now free to roam as they pleased all over the mountains.
Kanati heard the ruckus and rushed to the cave. By the time he got there, all the animals were long gone. Kanati was outraged. He entered the cave, where he found four large clay jars with lids on them. He angrily kicked the jars. The lids flew off and the air and ground were soon covered with all types of pests — fleas, ants, bedbugs, lice, gnats and ticks, just to name a few. The insects swarmed on the boys, stinging and biting them profusely.
Mooney recorded that Kanati then screamed at the boys, "Now you rascals have let out all the animals, and after this when you want a deer to eat you will have to hunt all over the woods for it and then maybe not find one."
The traditional Cherokee believed that this explains why even today hunting remains such a challenging sport, with no guarantee of "making meat" or getting food for the cook pot. It also explains the origins of all those pesky insects and vermin that hunters have had to deal with for years as they scoured the woods looking for game trails.
When Wild Boy and his brother unleashed all the animals and birds upon the world, there was one missing — the bear. Mooney explains simply that the bear did not exist then. But he explains why, and he also describes how the bear was created in his classic book.
The Cherokee felt a strong bond to the bear, a special sort of reverence, because they believed that yona, their name for the bruin, descended from an ancient tribal clan. This clan, who were once humans, had decided that they would prefer the more natural wild life of the bear versus the stress and worry of everyday human existence.
The Creator granted the clan their wish and turned them into bears, which according to tribal lore is why the bear is the animal that most resembles humans. These humans/bears also promised their Indian brethren that as long as they lived the tribe would have a reliable food source. However, the Cherokee were told to never forget where this food source originated and to always treat it with reverence and respect. Mooney states that the tribe was further instructed, "When you yourselves are hungry come into the woods and call us and we shall come to give you our own flesh. You need not be afraid to kill us, for we shall live always."
As Arelene Fradkin emphasizes in her 1990 book Cherokee Folk Zoology, the Cherokee took this offer very seriously and often killed bears reverently, but with great enthusiasm. She states that on one hunt, a bear "was resurrected to its proper form from the drops of its own spilt blood." She adds that another bear "was allotted seven lives and was killed repeatedly by hunters until it finally died its last death." So while the tribe had a great deal of respect for their bear brothers, they hunted them with a passion, believing that they were a never-ending food source.
James Mooney also found out why the traditional Cherokee believed that the bear clan could never be killed out. He learned that the chief of this ancient clan of humans/bears was called White Bear, who lived high in the Great Smoky Mountains at a site known as Kuwahi, or Mulberry Place. This is near the head of Deep Creek, on what is now known as Clingmans Dome. This massive 6,643-foot peak straddles the North Carolina and Tennessee border, between Swain County, North Carolina, and Sevier County, Tennessee.
The traditional Cherokee believed that there was a magical lake in this area called Atagahi, or Gall Place, where wounded and dying bears could retreat to and be healed. This mystical lake was fed by many bold springs flowing from the nearby high cliffs. It was a very wide but fairly shallow body of beautiful purple water. All manner of birds — especially huge flocks of wild ducks and pigeons — flew above the enchanted lake and swam on its surface. Many types of fish and reptiles also inhabited the lake, and the shoreline was filled with the tracks of the many bears that had traveled there to be magically healed or reborn.
Injured bears wounded by hunters or wild animals would travel here from all over the mountains. The wounded or dying bruins would then dive into one side of the lake and emerge from the other side magically healed. Some Cherokee believe that the lake still exists today. Though the supernatural powers of the Creator had ensured that Atagahi could not be seen by human eyes, some tribal members also believe that the lake could be seen by a spiritual human who was willing to endure lengthy fasting and prayer.
Author John Parris and his friend, Cherokee bear hunter George Owl, describe it best in Parris's 1972 book These Storied Mountains. Owl told Paris:
When I was a boy the old men said that just because people can't see the lake was no reason to believe that it had dried up and disappeared. It was there they said. It would always be there.
But only through fasting and prayer they said would any man ever see the Secret Lake and come to know its miraculous powers. To such a one the lake would appear at daybreak as a wide sheet of purple water fed by springs which gush from the crags about it.
Of course some will argue that what would appear as a lake would be nothing more than one of the cloud lakes which fill the great voids below during the night and then rise when day comes.
Sometimes after a rain when the clouds are below Kuwahi (Clingmans Dome) all the valleys seen from up above look like lakes. But who knows? Maybe one of these cloud lakes just could be Atagahi.
Indeed. Who does know for sure? But thanks to James Mooney we have these, as well as many other classic Cherokee stories — many of them involving hunting — permanently recorded for our enjoyment. Moreover, we have the traditional Cherokee explanations of creation and how they believe that hunting, as we now know it in the Great Smoky Mountains, came to be.
CHAPTER 2The Early Cherokee Hunters
Make no mistake about it — regardless of the creation theory that you personally subscribe to, be it religious or scientific, or whether you choose to dismiss the traditional Cherokee beliefs as simply myth — the Cherokee were exceptionally skilled hunters. Any true lover of the great outdoors will admire their skill sets, as well as how they lived their lives in harmony with nature, adhering to duyuktv, or the "right way."
Of all the animals hunted by these celebrated woodsmen, none were more important to them than the deer and the bear. The Cherokee particularly enjoyed eating venison, along with bear roasts, steaks and bacon. They used almost every part of these animals in some aspects of their daily lives. Hides made for fine clothing, moccasins, leggings, robes, blankets and pouches. The sinew was used for thread; bear gut was twisted into bowstrings. The antlers, bones, teeth and claws could be converted into tools, sewing implements, jewelry and ceremonial or decorative items. Even the fat of these animals was rendered into tallow, grease or oil for various uses.
The Cherokee hunted almost every kind of animal native to the mountains. Donald Davis notes in his 2000 book Where There Are Mountains that the tribe lived in the "ideal ecosystem for deer, elk, bear and buffaloes, as well as rabbits, squirrels, turkey and beaver." Davis further adds that the Cherokee not only avidly hunted these animals, but that they "also hunted groundhogs, rabbits, frogs, birds and turtles."
The Cherokee hunted big game such as deer, bear, elk and buffalo using their handmade bows and arrows. These bows were exceptionally strong. Spanish invaders in the early 1500s wrote that they were unable to even partially draw back the string of a Cherokee hunter's bow. The Spaniards also noted that the bows were strong enough to launch an arrow entirely through a horse from neck to hindquarters. Not only were the bows powerful, but the Cherokee used them with extraordinary skill. A Cherokee warrior was able to accurately shoot six or seven arrows in the time it took the Spaniards to shoot and load their firelocks once.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "A History of Hunting in the Great Smoky Mountains"
by .
Copyright © 2008 Bob Plott.
Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Foreword, by George Ellison,
Acknowledgements,
Introduction,
Chapter One. The Origins of Hunting in the Great Smoky Mountains,
Chapter Two. The Early Cherokee Hunters,
Chapter Three. The Market Hunters,
Chapter Four. Man Hunters,
Chapter Five. The Smoky Mountain Rifle,
Chapter Six. The Dawn of the Golden Age,
Chapter Seven. Tennessee Ridge Runners,
Chapter Eight. The Last Frontier,
Chapter Nine. Hazel Creek and Deep Creek: A Sportsman's Paradise,
Chapter Ten. Full Circle,
Bibliography,
About the Author,