THE AMERICAN BISONS. : 211 
herd produced by the fright and the chase has a most deleterious influence 
on their stability and increase. | 
The still hunt is far more fatal, and is the method adopted by the profes- 
sional hunter, who throughout the year makes it his chief business to hunt 
the buffalo for its commercial products. The buffalo being naturally unsus- 
picious and sluggish, even to stupidity, is readily approached within easy 
range, even in a level country, where the slight herbage of the plains is the 
only shelter. Buffalo-hunting hence requires much less tact and skill than 
the hunting of most other large game, especially deer and pronghorns. The 
chief precaution necessary is to keep to the leeward of the herd, in order not 
to give them the “scent,” as this alarms them even when no enemy is in 
sight, being sufficient to “stampede” a herd at along distance. The buffa- 
loes can ordinarily be approached to within a thousand yards in a perfectly 
level and open country, and with a slight growth of herbage for shelter it is 
easy to creep up to within a hundred yards, and by aid of ravines to within 
twenty or thirty paces. I have seen hunters approach within thirty yards 
of a herd when their only cover was grass and weeds a foot or so in height. 
The old bulls are always less wary than the cows and younger bulls; they 
also, to a great extent, keep in the rear and on the outskirts of the herd. As 
generally only the younger animals are desired, and especially the young 
cows, the hunters often have to creep past the old bulls in order to get 
within range of the cows. Where slight inequalities of the ground have 
favored the hunters, I have seen them pass within a few paces of the quietly 
reclining, ruminating old bulls, in trying to get within range of the more 
desirable game beyond without the patriarchs of the herd being alarmed by 
the hunter’s approach. The half-wild Texan steers are often far more wary 
than the unsuspecting herds of buffaloes. 
The professional hunter, when desiring to load his teams with meat, will 
rarely make his first shot at a greater distance than fifty to seventy-five 
yards. If the shot result fatally, the herd rarely moves more than fifty 
yards before stopping to look for the cause of the mishap to their fallen 
companion, and turning half round to get a good view rearward, they thus 
present themselves in the best possible position to the hunter at still short 
range. Here others fall before the hunter’s shots; the herd, again slightly 
startled, moves on a few paces, and again stops to gaze. The hunter, still 
keeping prostrate, approaches, if necessary, under cover of those already 
killed, and continues the work of destruction. The shots are thus often 
