210 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 



spring, when the drop snow is covered with a hard crust, which, while it rap- 

 ports the hunter, proves ;i great impediment to the buffaloes, they arc easily 

 run 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 

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

 usually chosen when sport and excitement are the things mainly desired, the 

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

 The hitter 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 bot- 

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

 domestic cattle would he. The chase on horseback of a drove of Texan cattle 

 would he far more dangerous, and attended probably with as much excite- 

 ment, except that in the case of the buffalo the hunter has the consciousness 

 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 Hying 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 

 tin' band, the tottering fall or the headlong tumble of tlie doomed animal, 

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

 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 

 long pursuit of an animal which, though pierced with a dozen halls, still 

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

 for the rider and his steed. This method 18 the favorite one with hunting 

 parties from the East or from abroad, aa well a- of the officers and soldiers 



of the United Slates Cavalry, when the latter are Mationed within or near 



the range of the buffalo, or are passing through it- range, at the expense, 

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

 • he buffalo dining these hunts is n<>t generally verj great, though amounting 

 annually, in the . i an_\ thousands : but the demoralisation of the 



D on i In' North Coa»t of America, etc., p. 104, 



