The Buffalo Hunter Hunter: Complete Book Guide

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Quick Facts

Short Summary

In 2012, struggling professor Etsy Beaucarne discovers her ancestor Arthur’s 1912 journal hidden in a Montana parsonage. The journal chronicles Arthur’s encounters with Good Stab, a Pikuni warrior transformed into a nachzehrer (vampire) after drinking the blood of an undead creature. Good Stab kills hide-hunters and settlers as revenge for the Marias Massacre and other colonial atrocities. As Etsy transcribes the diary, she uncovers her family’s complicity in genocide and the supernatural truth behind the century-old murders. The novel weaves three timelines to explore justice, guilt, and the inescapable weight of violence against Indigenous people.

Full Summary

Part 1: The Framed Discovery (2012 and 1912)

Etsy Beaucarne, a University of Wyoming professor denied tenure, finds her great-great-great-grandfather Arthur Beaucarne’s journal hidden in a church wall. The diary, dated 1912, describes a gruesome murder: a man skinned on the prairie, his face painted yellow and black. Etsy begins transcribing the journal, hoping to turn it into a tenure book. Her personal loneliness mirrors the violence she uncovers.

Arthur’s entries introduce Good Stab, a Pikuni man who appears at Arthur’s church asking to confess. Good Stab has multiple names (Weasel Plume, Takes No Scalps, The Fullblood) and wears dark spectacles because light hurts his eyes. Over several Sundays, he tells his life story, beginning with his death.

Part 2: Good Stab’s Origin (1870s)

Good Stab was born during the Year the Stars Fell. As a young warrior, he accompanied three others to hide evidence of a wagon train attack. They found a pale, undead creature in a cage—the Cat Man, a nachzehrer. While hauling the cage toward Chief Mountain, U.S. soldiers ambushed them. Mortally wounded, Good Stab drank the creature’s blood and died, then rose as a vampire.

After his transformation, Good Stab killed the soldier who shot the Cat Man and feasted on trappers and animals. He accidentally killed a Pikuni boy named White Teeth, which devastated him. He discovered a herd of bison slaughtered for their robes and was shot by hide-hunters. Inside a skinned buffalo carcass, he drank its blood to survive. Enraged by the slaughter of orphaned calves, he attacked the hunters, killing two before escaping with a white calf.

Part 3: The Marias Massacre and Escalation (1912 timeline)

Arthur hears Good Stab’s story of the same day two massacres occurred: the Marias Massacre (Bear River) and a nearby attack. Good Stab learned English from Napi, the Blackfeet trickster, who helped him survive two winters. Good Stab kept a hidden herd of buffalo and penned hide-hunters as blood reserves. He drank the blood of his own people, including Yellow-on-Top Woman, and his father Wolf Calf cut a breathing hole in his chest, then handed him to Napi.

Back in 1912, Sheriff Doyle investigates more skinned corpses. Pinkerton agent Dove arrives, tracking a missing San Francisco family whose remains are appearing in Miles City. Arthur tries to rationalize Good Stab’s supernatural claims but grows increasingly afraid. He sets a trap for Good Stab, but Good Stab evades it. After Arthur misdirects Doyle, Good Stab kills the sheriff.

Arthur eventually confesses to being present at the Marias Massacre and to fathering a child with a Blackfeet woman. Good Stab reveals that the youngest corpse in the church is Arthur’s grandson. He forces Arthur to admit the soldiers killed women and children “because you were just Indians.”

Part 4: Final Confrontations and Resolution

Good Stab recounts his final battle with the Cat Man, who entombed him in an ice river. Good Stab escaped by chewing off his hand and later defeated the Cat Man by poisoning him through a girl’s blood. He imprisoned the Cat Man alive and rode away, affirming his Pikuni identity.

Arthur writes his last diary entry on June 2, 1912, finding the church filled with ghosts of Blackfeet victims. He flees, expecting death. In 2013, Etsy finishes transcribing the journal and learns it is bound in human skin. She discovers Arthur has been transformed into a giant prairie-dog monster as punishment. She kills him at the massacre site and destroys the journal. Good Stab reveals he was the construction worker who found the journal. He rides away with the Blackfeet, ending the cycle of vengeance.

Main Characters

• Good Stab – A Pikuni warrior turned nachzehrer, driven by a quest for justice for the Blackfeet.
• Arthur Beaucarne – A Lutheran pastor in 1912 Miles City who chronicles Good Stab’s confessions and is revealed to have participated in the Marias Massacre.
• Etsy Beaucarne – A 2012 professor who transcribes Arthur’s journal and uncovers the supernatural truth.
• Sheriff Lacy Doyle – The lawman investigating the skinned corpses, eventually killed by Good Stab.
• Napi – The Blackfeet trickster who teaches Good Stab English and helps him survive.
• The Cat Man / Nachzehrer – The original undead creature Good Stab drinks from; later defeated through a blood-poisoning trap.

Major Themes

• Colonial Violence and Genocide – The novel centers on the Marias Massacre and the systematic destruction of the Blackfeet.
• Vampirism as Consumption – Good Stab’s blood-drinking literalizes the violent consumption of Indigenous land and bodies.
• Justice and Revenge – Good Stab’s killings are a quest for justice, but the narrative questions the cost of vengeance.
• Identity and Cultural Erasure – Good Stab’s multiple names reflect the struggle to preserve Blackfeet identity against forced assimilation.
• Guilt and Absolution – The confessional framework explores the impossibility of absolution without accountability for genocide.

Key Symbols

• Nachzehrer – A German vampire figure symbolizing supernatural horror born from colonial sin.
• Buffalo Robe – Represents the slaughtered herds and desecrated land fueling Good Stab’s rage.
• Raven Feather – Linked to protection and divine justice, contrasting with Good Stab’s monstrosity.
• Human Skin Binding – Arthur’s journal bound in human skin literalizes the incorporation of violence into the text.

Ending Explained

In the final chapter, Etsy learns Arthur has become a giant prairie-dog monster as punishment for his role in the Marias Massacre. She kills him with a nail gun and cable saw at the massacre site, then destroys the human-skin-bound journal with her father’s ashes. Good Stab reveals he was the construction worker who found the journal, completing the loop. He rides away with the Blackfeet, suggesting that the cycle of violence may finally close, though justice remains incomplete. For a deeper analysis, see our ending explained page.

Chapter-by-Chapter Guide

For detailed summaries of each chapter, visit the chapter 1 summary, chapter 2 summary, chapter 3 summary, chapter 4 summary, chapter 5 summary, chapter 6 summary, chapter 7 summary, chapter 8 summary, chapter 9 summary, chapter 10 summary, chapter 11 summary, chapter 12 summary, chapter 13 summary, chapter 14 summary, chapter 15 summary, chapter 16 summary, chapter 17 summary, chapter 18 summary, chapter 19 summary, chapter 20 summary, chapter 21 summary, chapter 22 summary, chapter 23 summary, chapter 24 summary, and chapter 25 summary.

Common Questions and Answers

1. What is a nachzehrer?
A nachzehrer is a type of vampire from German folklore. In the novel, Good Stab becomes one after drinking the blood of the Cat Man. The term is used by the German-American community in Miles City to identify the creature.

2. What is the Marias Massacre?
The Marias Massacre (also called the Baker Massacre) occurred on January 23, 1870, when U.S. soldiers attacked a Blackfeet camp, killing approximately 217 people, mostly women and children. Arthur Beaucarne participated in this massacre.

3. Why does Good Stab kill people?
Good Stab kills hide-hunters and settlers as retribution for the systemic destruction of the Blackfeet, particularly the buffalo slaughter and the Marias Massacre. He seeks acknowledgment of the crimes rather than simple vengeance.

4. What happens to Arthur Beaucarne?
Arthur confesses to his role in the massacre and is tied to the church cross by Good Stab. In the 2013 timeline, he has been transformed into a giant prairie-dog monster. Etsy kills him at the massacre site.

5. What is the significance of the buffalo robe?
The buffalo robe appears on the church podium in Arthur’s final entry, symbolizing the slaughtered herds and the land desecrated by colonization. It represents the source of Good Stab’s rage and the loss of Blackfeet sustenance.

6. How does Etsy kill Arthur?
Etsy uses a nail gun and cable saw to kill the transformed Arthur at the Marias Massacre site. She then destroys the human-skin-bound journal with her father’s ashes.

7. What role does Napi play?
Napi is the Blackfeet trickster figure who appears as a trapper. He teaches Good Stab English and helps him survive two winters in the mountains, acting as a guide and moral counterpoint.

8. Is Good Stab a hero or a monster?
The novel deliberately blurs this line. Good Stab’s violence is framed as justice for genocide, but his actions also kill innocent Blackfeet and children. The narrative refuses to offer easy absolution, leaving readers to grapple with the moral complexity.

Further Reading

• Questions and Answers
• Quiz
• Essay Prompts
• Ending Explained