380 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



Colonel Bedson's herd, taken by Lady Alice Stanley, and by 

 a photographer at Winnipeg, Manitoba. 



An idea of the size of a buffalo bull may be conveyed by 

 the fact that, in 1889, one of the bulls in Colonel Bedson's herd 

 was estimated at 2,000 Ibs., and a much smaller beast, a half- 

 bred bull, was killed, which dressed without the head 1,100 Ibs. 

 This was a four-year-old, by a buffalo bull out of a Durham cow. 



P.S. Since writing the above, I have spent a season with 

 an old-time buffalo hunter, who confirmed all the statements 

 made to me by others ; and added that, as an instance of the 

 numbers killed by individuals, he himself accounted for 3,500 

 head in four years, whilst a friend of his, A. C. Myers, killed 

 4,200 buffaloes in the Pan Handle Country, in Texas, in one 

 year, 'about the time Hayes was President.' 



My old friend S. W. explained to me why men used such 

 a gigantic weapon as the 'old reliable ' Sharp, which used to weigh 

 1 6 Ibs. and upwards, although the bullet was but a small one. 



In buffalo shooting, he said, you had often to fire a deuce of 

 a lot of shots one after another ; the weather was hotter than 

 ' the hottest part of the hot place,' and as you were shooting at 

 long ranges, if the barrel got hot, a sort of mist would get be- 

 tween your eye and the sights, which helped the buffalo somewhat. 

 Besides, where shooting was your trade, you didn't want to get 

 your shoulder ' kicked ' at every shot ; and as for the weight 

 of your rifle, that didn't matter to you, for your pony packed it. 



! 



1 A pile of buffalo bones ' 



