2-jS FliANK FORESTER S FIELD SPORTS. 



terrible and vicious-lookiii'j;-, but, in reality, terrified and timid 

 Bisons; or, ii'ter a faster and Imiqer gallop, of the tossed antlers 

 and sleek coats of ilie fleeter Elks. 



Of the former, he [)icks out the fattest cows, and galloping up 

 alongside of tlie huge, \va,l!oping, unwieldy mountain of flesh, 

 till he is, as a sailor would say, yard-arm and yard-arm with his 

 enemv, discharges his douh'e gun, loaded with buckshot — for 

 my use, I would clio )se Ely's wire cartri Iges of the largest slugs 

 — or the heavy holster pistols — one or other of which weapons, 

 for the horse chase, is considered preferable to the rille — under 

 the foreshoulder, until it falls, when he passes onward to ano- 

 ther, and another, leaving the falhm victims to be slaughtered 

 by the laggards in the reir, and often kil.ing his half score of 

 these vast cattle of the wilderness, in a chase of a few hours' 

 duration. 



A wounded bull will, it is true, occasionally turn and charge, 

 but his lumbering rush is easily avoided by the swift and agile 

 swerve of the trained charger, which is generally broken to 

 wheel aside the instant the shot is fired ; and the danger, in iruth, 

 is infinitely small, when considered in reference to the gigantic 

 bulk, immense power, and formidable appeai-ance of the Bison 

 bulls. 



In fact, all the peril consists in thetwof )ld risk of the rider, if 

 dismounted by the action of firiii!;, at the moment of the courser's 

 swerving, being cast upon the horns, or under feet of the infu- 

 riate bull ; and of the horse, in the act of springing sideways 

 from the chai-ge of one bull, ci'ossing the counter of another, 

 unseen, so close as to be overthrown by him. 



The ch.arge of the Bison is, however, but a momentary spirt, 

 and is rarely protracted above a f nv paces in lenoth, — nor are 

 instances wanting in which a rider, dismounted, as I have de- 

 scribed, and cast sprawling on the earth within ten feet of the 

 enraged monster, has succeeded in deterring the giant from his 

 attack by the mere majesty of the human aspect, and the [jowfu" 

 of the human eye, which, when calm and undaunted, cannot, it 

 wouLl seem, be endured l)y any of the inferior creation. An 



