210 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 
spring, when the deep snow is covered with a hard crust, which, while it sup- 
| ports the hunter, proves a great impediment to the buffaloes, they are easily 
run down by the hunters, and despatched with daggers while floundering in 
the deep drifts, even women and boys assisting in killing the then almost - 
helpless animals.* 
The two modes of hunting the buffalo chiefly practised at present are the 
' pursuit on horseback and the “still hunt.” The first named is the one 
usually chosen when sport and excitement are the things mainly desired, the 
still hunt being practised when a supply of meat or of hides is the object. 
i The latter method affords but little excitement, and entails, with proper pre- 
cautions, little or no risk of life or limb on the part of the hunter. Parties 
hunting for pleasure prefer the chase on horseback, shooting from the saddle 
with heavy revolvers at close range when at full gallop.. Success depends 
almost wholly, provided the hunter is a good rider, upon the speed and bot- 
tom of his horse, and is really about as noble sport as attacking a herd of 
domestic cattle would be. The chase on horseback of a drove of Texan cattle 
would be far more dangerous, and attended probably with as much excite- 
ment, except that in the case of the buffalo the hunter has the consciousness 
of pursuing a nominally wild animal, and hence legitimate game. That the 
chase on horseback affords the wildest excitement is an undeniable fact. The 
swift pursuit of the flying mass of buffaloes, the mingling with the terrified 
herd, the singling out of the victim, the rapid shots at the huge moving bulk 
of hair and flesh, at so close range that the game is almost within reach of 
the hand, the tottering fall or the headlong tumble of the doomed animal, 
the risk of pursuit by a wounded bull maddened with pain, the general din 
and confusion, with the double risk of collision with the blindly fleemg mon- 
sters, or of being thrown by treacherous marmot or badger holes, or anon the 
long pursuit of an animal which, though pierced with a dozen balls, still 
rushes on, can, of course, yield only excitement of the intensest kind, both 
for the rider and his steed. This method is the favorite one with hunting 
parties from the East or from abroad, as well as of the officers and soldiers 
of the United States Cavalry, when the latter are stationed within or near 
the range of the buffalo, or are passing through its range, at the expense, 
| usually, of several of the best horses in the command. The destruction of 
Le the buffalo during these hunts is not generally very great, though amounting 
annually, in the aggregate, to many thousands; but the demoralization of the 
* Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America, etc., p. 404. 
