Think like the
Great Plains.
Here's a nice site with a listing of animals most commonly found in that kind of area. Scroll down for links to animal listings; as for predators, it looks like coyotes, wolves, foxes, bears, mountain lions, bobcats, plus probably scattered ankhegs, krenshars, giant eagles, and maybe a few others. Did you have anything in mind?
As for pacing etc., I can run it however you guys want. We can do little blurbs of roleplay that advance the plot (i.e., one scene in which you teach them how to train birds, then whoosh!, one scene fifty years later where you teach them how to build boats, then whoosh! etc etc.) or it can be more like the IR if you prefer - you just give a general summary of what you're trying to teach/do with the tribe, then I give you the result.