The Crow story tells of how there was a race of giants who used bison as horses. They gave four men bison they had kept in a hole in the ground. Many tribes use similar explanations for how herds of bison seemed to appear on the prairie. To the Cree the bison made the greatest medicine of all the animals. When bison were hunted and killed, they would be thanked for giving up their lives.
Bison hides covered sweat lodges that faced towards an ancient bison skull.
When the sweat was finished the man smoked to the bison and asked that the bison be plentiful, flesh itself and return to the herds. Others would leave the dead animal un-skinned to rot and only count coup upon it. Still others were afraid to skin it and let others do the work being careful to make no gashes in the hide. They would then take the hide to be consecrated by a warrior, a medicine man, and a consecrated woman. In some cases it was believed that eating the flesh would make your hair turn prematurely gray.