Native Americans of varying cultural traditions lived in the Upper Mississippi River Valley for thousands of years before European Americans entered the region. During the early years of Native American contact with European Americans, from 1650 to 1837, several important Dakotan villages were located in this valley, including Black Dog and Kaposia villages. The changing seasons and availability of various food sources affected the daily life of Dakotan people. From March through May, women, children, and older men lived in sugar camps where they harvested maple sugar for use throughout the year. Most of the men camped elsewhere and hunted muskrats and other animals for their thick furs. By early summer, men and women reunited in summer planting villages with large summer lodgings that were used for many years. The women farmed, planted, and tended the fields, while the men hunted, fished, and gathered wild plants nearby. By early fall, families set off for wild rice processing camps, where rice was collected in canoes and stored for use in the fall and winter. After the wild rice was collected, the community set out to hunt deer. The hunters followed the movements of the deer until the community gained an adequate food supply for the winter. During the coldest part of the winter, Dakotans lived in well insulated tipis near their summer planting villages, resting, playing sports, and preparing for the return of spring.