Spearing Muskrats in Winter

The muskrat heads peeking from the sack bode well for this hunt. A cold, white landscape still stretches ahead, but the echo of the hunters’ poses suggests a bond of camaraderie. Facing a dwindling supply of animals with desirable fur pelts, such as beaver, Native people hunted (and ate) muskrat, though its pelt earned far less at the trading company. As illustrated here, hunters stuck spears directly into muskrat dens, or axed through them. The handsome red hood, trimmed in beads and ribbon, kept snow off the hunter’s neck. This watercolor, one of 35 works on paper by Seth Eastman in Mia’s collection, was the basis for an illustration in Henry Rowe Schoolcraft’s massive Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1851-57).