By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
JIMERSONTOWN — Dozens of “shooters” participated Saturday in the first of the fourth annual two-day Morrie Abrams Memorial Snowsnake Tournament.
Snowsnake competition, which involves throwing a snowsnake down a track, is a Haudenosaunee winter tradition going back hundreds of years.
Individuals from across New York state attend various snowsnake shoots. This weekend it was on a snowsnake track off Hiller Road on the Allegany Territory.
Kids up to age 16 competeted beginning at 9 a.m. The waxed snowsnakes can go up to a quarter of a mile.
At 11 a.m., Mudcat competition started with participants throwing three-foot long sticks with a metal tip for weight to help push it along the trough. They are waxed to decrease friction.
A steady snowfall made it necessary to keep brushing off the beginning of the course. The participants competed for best distance.
Each thrower started behind the entrance to the ramp leading to the track, focusing on the small U-shaped area the mudcat and snowsnake must hit to enter the track or trough. The release is explosive, often accompanied by a yell and the stick races down the track.
Oneida Nation members Shawn Waterman and his nephew Rylan Redeye drove from the Onondaga Territory in Central New York to compete in the Mudcat tournament.
“We both started about six years ago,” Waterman said between rounds Saturday. They see many of the same competitors at each tournament.
Ed Printup was among those watching the mudcat competition Saturday. He said he was probably 14 when he started throwing. He’s past that now, but remembers what it was like. “I used to be that little guy,” he smiled as one of the younger throwers walked by with a bag of mudcats.
Printup said the snowsnake track was built by a group of eight or 10 men. It requires regular maintenance and goes on for more than 200 yards.
In the early days of the Five Iroquois Nations, there was widespread snowsnake competition between villages. Now participants often drive across the state for the camaradiere and the competitive spirit connecting them to their ancestors
Third-raters with their 6-foot long snowsnakes threw after the mudcat competition on Saturday.Sunday’s competition starts at 11 a.m., with First-raters followed by Second-raters throwing the snowsnakes.
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