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210 



THE AMEEICAJST BISONS 



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spring, when the deep snow is covered with a hard crusty which^ while it sup- 

 ports the hunter^ proves a great impediment to the buffaloes^ they are easily 

 rim 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 



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pursuit on horseback and the " still hunt." The first named is the one 

 usually chosen wdien sport and excitement are tlie things mainly desired, the 

 still hunt being practised when a supply of meat or of hides is the object. 

 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 hot- 

 torn of his horse, and is really about as noble sport as attacking a herd of 

 domestic cattle w^ould be. The chase on horseback of a drove of Texan cattle 

 w^ould 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 



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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 aninnil, 

 the risk of pursuit by a wounded bull maddened with pain, the general din 



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and confusion, with the double risk of collision with the blindly fleeing mon- 

 sters, or of being thrown by treacherous marmot or badger holes, or anon the 



a dozen balls, still 



long pursuit of an animal which, though pierced wdth 



rushes on, can, of course, yield only excitement of the intensest kind, both 



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for the rider and his steed. This method is the favori 



one with hunting 



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parties from the East or from abroad, as well as of the officers and soldiers 

 of the United States Cavalry, w^hen the latter are stationed within or near 

 the range of the buffalo, ar are passing through its range, at the expense, 



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usually, of several of the best horses in the command. The destruction of 

 the buffalo during these hunts is not generally very great, though amounting 

 annually, in the aggregate, to many thousands; but the demoralization of the 



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* Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America, etc., p. 404 







