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"Because they [the Kalispel] had no salmon runs in their territory, they often traveled into neighboring British Columbia to fish. They also fished and traded with the Spokane and other Interior Salishans to the west at Kettle Falls and Spokane Falls. Fish taken in their territory included trout, whitefish, squawfish, and suckers.

Large game animals hunted included elk, moose, deer, mountain goat, mountain sheep, brown bear, and grizzly bear. Bison and possibly antelope were hunted in the Great Plains and even caribou were occasionally hunted. Numerous small game animals such as rabbit and beaver and birds such as ducks and geese added to this abundant set of resources. Two major root crops, the bitterroot and camas, provided a large portion of the daily diet. Numerous berries and nuts were relished, including raspberries, thimbleberries, blackberries, red and black gooseberries, blueberries, chokecherries, currants, hazelnuts, and at least two types of pine nuts.

A digging stick.

 In spring and early summer the Kalispel began fishing on Lake Pend d’Oreille and digging for early roots. Root digging continued into midsummer, particularly in large meadows around Cusick, Washington, where they were joined by the Spokane and Colville. In August, Kalispel bison hunting parties left for Montana, usually going up the Clark Fork along the Pend d’Oreille trail. The men resumed fishing in the late summer and early fall at which time berries were also gathered and stored by the women. October saw the most intensive hunting for deer, as all members of the community labored to amass adequate food for subsistence during the winter months of November, December, and January, which were spent mostly in winter villages. When stored foods ran low during the winter, some hunting was undertaken in the river valleys to replenish supplies, but winter was mostly devoted to ceremonial activity and handicrafts."