274 Hunting Trips on the Prairie 



a good rule to be cautious in dealing with an ap- 

 parently dead or dying buffalo. About the time the 

 above incident occurred a party of hunters near my 

 ranch killed a buffalo, as they thought, and tied a 

 pony to its foreleg, to turn it over, as its position 

 was a very bad one for skinning. Barely had the 

 pony been tied when the buffalo came to with a 

 jump, killed the unfortunate pony, and needed a 

 dozen more balls before he fell for good. 



At that time the buffalo would occasionally be 

 scattered among the cattle, but, as a rule, avoided 

 the latter and seemed to be afraid of them ; while the 

 cattle, on the contrary, had no apparent dread of 

 the buffalo, unless it happened that on some occa- 

 sion they got caught by a herd of the latter that had 

 stampeded. A settler or small ranchman, not far 

 from my place, was driving in a team of oxen in 

 a wagon one day three years since, when, in crossing 

 a valley, he encountered a little herd of stampeded 

 buffalo, who, in their blind and heedless terror, ran 

 into him and knocked over the wagon and oxen. 

 The oxen never got over the fright the rough han- 

 dling caused them, and ever afterward became un- 

 manageable and tore off at sight or smell of a 

 buffalo. It is said that the few buffalo left in the 

 country through which the head waters of the Belle 

 Fourche flow have practically joined themselves to 

 the great herds of cattle now found all over that 

 region. 



Buffalo are very easily tamed. On a neighboring 

 ranch there are four which were taken when very 



