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There was a large amount of time spent on hunting and preserving deer and other wild game. The game also provided clothes, tools and other implements.

Meat was smoked in large quantities to last throughout the winter season. First, a rack for smoking meat was built using Douglas fir and willow sticks. The rack held horizontal poles that were about 1.5 metres from the ground. Rawhide was used to secure the poles. A fire was then made underneath the rack. Hardwoods such as, alder and cottonwood were used in the fire and were left to smoulder to cure the meat properly.

The meat was cut into large slabs, four centimetres thick, and then laid on the cutting surface with the muscle grain going from the left to the right. The meat was then cut into strips from the top to four cm from the bottom and turned upside down and cut between the first cuts to stretch the meat strip. The food was then pulled apart into one large strip that was about sixty centimetres in length, depending on the slab size. The meat was then hung over the smouldering fire and turned over every few hours. When it was necessary, the rack was covered up by tree branches or birch bark. This was to keep rain out and to shade the meat from the sun.

Cutting up meat

Salmon and fish are an important food for the Secwepemc people. This food source was either speared or netted from the local rivers or streams. The process of drying fish began with the fish being gutted and cleaned first and heads and tails removed. It was then cut into two halves and the bones were removed and the excessive meat was trimmed. The halves were cut down to the skin and into strips. A hole was then cut near the tail end so it could hang from a branch on the rack. The side of fish was snapped like a whip to stretch the skin to help the meat to dry evenly. The sides of fish would then hang to dry for about two weeks depending on the weather.

Smoking fish was much like smoking meat; it was gutted and cleaned first. The head and tail were removed and then the fish was filleted and all of the bones were taken out. The fish was almost split into two parts but part of the skin was saved to hold the two sides together. Holes were made near the dorsal and the pectoral fins so that the willow sticks stretched the fish so the meat would cure evenly. Once this was done another stick would be pierced through the hole in the tail and then hung on a rack in a smoke shack. Fish heads and meaty bones were also smoked for times of hardships that may befall the people. A fire of Alder or Hickory wood was placed underneath the meat to cure it. To prepare the fish it would be placed over an open flame to heat the oils in the fish which would moisten the meat.