Hunting Trips on the Prairie 



buffalo at a time, owing to their curious liability 

 to fits of stupid, panic terror. Sometimes when 

 these panics seize them they stampede and run off 

 in headlong, heedless flight, going over anything 

 in their way. Once, in mid-winter, one of my men 

 was lying out in the open, under a heavy roll of 

 furs, the wagon sheet over all. During the night 

 a small herd of stampeded buffalo passed by, and 

 one of them jumped on the bed, almost trampling 

 on the sleeper, and then bounded off, as the latter 

 rose with a yell. The others of the herd passed 

 almost within arm's length on each side. 



Occasionally these panic fits have the opposite 

 effect and make them run together and stand still 

 in a stupid, frightened manner. This is now and 

 then the result when a hunter fires at a herd while 

 keeping himself concealed; and on rare occasions 

 (for buffalo act very differently at different times, 

 according to their moods) it occurs even when he 

 is in full sight. When they are made to act thus 

 it is called in hunters' parlance getting a "stand" 

 on them; and often thirty or forty have been killed 

 in one such stand, the hunter hardly shifting his 

 position the whole time. Often, with their long- 

 range heavy rifles, the hunters would fire a number 

 of shots into a herd half a mile off, and on ap- 

 proaching would find that they had bagged several 

 for the Sharps rifle has a very long range, and 

 the narrow, heavy conical bullets will penetrate al- 

 most anything. Once while coming in over the 

 plains with an ox wagon two of my cowboys sur- 



