A proud non-Native hunter poses with his not-so-hard-to-kill “trophy” – a revered white buffalo, or tatanka ska – near Texas Hunt Lodge. In the aftermath of a vociferous attack by Native Americans from near and far, beginning with the Lakota, the lodge abruptly discontinued its pricey white buffalo hunts. (Photo courtesy of TEXASHUNTLODGE.COM, via Native Sun News)
This photo of a hunter standing with his kill, a sacred white buffalo, has been circulated widely across the Internet in recent weeks. It caused outrage from many groups. Now, the hunting lodge in Texas that organizes the controlled “hunts” of white buffalo has apparently stopped offering the white buffalo option.
Jesse Abernathy, Native Sun News Editor, has the full story:
HUNT, Texas – A hunting lodge in this small, unincorporated – and fittingly named – community came under fire recently by Native Americans from across the country for its offering of staged white buffalo kills.
Situated in the heart of the Lone Star State, the family-owned Texas Hunt Lodge provides big-game packages to hunting enthusiasts from coast to coast. Rare white buffalo, or bison, packages run upwards of $14,000, according to information once contained on the lodge’s website.
Texas Hunt Lodge, which has been in existence since 2008 and touts access to over 100,000 acres of ranch land, is headed by Aaron Bulkley.
“There are no seasonal restrictions on hunting the White Buffalo, or White Bison, in Texas, which makes it a suitable trophy year round,” proclaims apparently now-excised advertising from the hunting lodge’s website.
Phone calls to the Texas Hunt Lodge by Native Sun News went unanswered.
For centuries, the white buffalo has been a potent symbol of cultural preservation for the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota peoples of the Great Plains. Hunting and harvesting the hard-to-find icon is considered sacrilegious by many of these “Buffalo People.”
“The company started the white buffalo hunts about two years ago, and there was a big outcry about it then,” said James Swan, founder and president of the Rapid City-based United Urban Warrior Society.
The lodge acquiesced to pressure from Native Americans at the time and ceased its white buffalo hunts, according to Swan.
“But now it’s started back up again,” he said. “It’s a slap in the face for our people.”
Swan is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
“(Texas Hunt Lodge’s) argument now is that they’re technically not white buffalo, but inbred beefalo,” Swan said. “But the thing is, if you go to the pictures of what they claim are beefalo on their website – beefalo look more like a Brahma bull than beef or buffalo – but the pictures, those are buffalo.”
However, there appear to no longer be any remaining images of or references to the white buffalo hunting package on the company’s site.
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Tags: james swan, Native Sun News, texas hunt lodge, United Urban Warrior Society, White bison, White buffalo
