Wolves Hunting an Antelope
Ethnographic Notes
A pronghorn antelope buck with a broken leg is shown being taken down by a pair of grey wolves, which Lakota call the “big, sacred dog,” (sunkmanitu tanka---Buechel, 1970: 469). This was the natural fate of most of the millions of buffalo, elk, antelope and deer which blanketed the Plains. Lakota men identified with wolves, also top predators. “Wolf” was the slang name for an accomplished scout, one who could “see without being seen;” and a tanned wolf or coyote skin was the badge of honor worn by nearly every scout for a war party.