The winter was by far the worst time of the year for the Indians. During this season food often became scarce, especially the herds of bison that wandered in the prairies in summer.

Many tribes would therefore split up and each section would go off on its own. Indians usually spent the winter near forests and rivers: the forests supplied firewood and the rivers, some of which were frozen, contained plenty of fish which was an easy food to catch.

The Indians were very skilful at catching large fish even with their bows and arrows. They could often catch and dry enough fish to last from one season to the next, and if not, some species of salmon could be caught at most times of the year. They preserved much of their meat by smoking it in the same way as bacon, but these smoked supplies often ran out before the end of the winter and then fish became valuable.

In winter the Indians also hunted small game animals. A variety of nooses, snares, traps and pit-falls were used and the peculiarities of the animal to be caught were carefully studied.