I took an archaeology class about American Indians. It was a intro class that touched on everything from paleo to modern, anywhere from the Rio Grande north. As an off the cuff comment the prof said that Bison bones are common in Plains Indian middens but aren't found in Woodland Indian middens. It's next to impossible to believe the native Woodland cultures wouldn't have Bison on the menu.
Bison did have a wide range and I'm not sure of the details but it's believed that at one time they were two different species that hybridized into the current single species. I know more about wolves and you are correct, there are several different subspecies of Canis lupus. Wolves are generally anti-social to stranger wolves so it's easy to imagine that as a reason for so many subspecies. Perhaps the difference with buffalo is that the herds never became truly segregated. There must have been gene flow across the plains.
"the prof said that Bison bones are common in Plains Indian middens but aren't found in Woodland Indian middens. It's next to impossible to believe the native Woodland cultures wouldn't have Bison on the menu. "
Interesting. But they WERE in the east.
Read some early accounts of AMerican backwoodsmen hunting them for food. I'm sure they were a lot less common out east, but they WERE there.
Absence of evidence isn't proof of absence.