THE AMERICAN BISONS. 211 



herd produced by the fright and the chase has a most deleterious influence 

 on their stability and increase. 



The still hunt is far more fatal, and is the method adopted by the profes- 

 sional hunter, who throughout the year makes it his chief business to hunt 

 the buffalo for its commercial products. The buffalo being naturally unsus- 

 picious and sluggish, even to stupidity, is readily approached within easy 

 range, even in a level country, where the slight herbage of the plains is the 

 only shelter. Buffalo-hunting hence requires much less tact and skill than 

 the hunting of most other large game, especially deer and pronghorns. The 

 chief precaution necessary is to keep to the leeward of the herd, in order not 

 to give them the " scent," as this alarms them even when no enemy is in 

 sight, being sufficient to " stampede " a herd at a long distance. The buffa- 

 loes can ordinarily be approached to within a thousand yards in a perfectly 

 level and open country, and with a slight growth of herbage for shelter it is 

 easy to creep up to within a hundred yards, and by aid of ravines to within 

 twenty or thirty paces. I have seen hunters approach within thirty yards 

 of a herd when their only cover was grass and weeds a foot or so in height. 

 The old bulls are always less wary than the cows and younger bulls ; they 

 also, to a great extent, keep in the rear and on the outskirts of the herd. As 

 generally only the younger animals are desired, and especially the young 

 cows, the hunters often have to creep past the old bulls in order to get 

 within range of the cows. Where slight inequalities of the ground have 

 favored the hunters, I have seen them pass within a few paces of the quietly 

 reclining, ruminating old bulls, in trying to get within range of the more 

 desirable game beyond without the patriarchs of the herd being alarmed by 

 the hunter's approach. The half-wild Texan steers are often far more wary 

 than the unsuspecting herds of buffaloes. 



The professional hunter, when desiring to load his teams with meat, will 

 rarely make his first shot at a greater distance than fifty to seventy-five 

 yards. If the shot result fatally, the herd rarely moves more than fifty 

 yards before stopping to look for the cause of the mishap to their fallen 

 companion, and turning half round to get a good view rearward, they thus 

 present themselves in the best possible position to the hunter at still short 

 range. Here others fall before the hunter's shots ; the herd, again slightly 

 startled, moves on a few paces, and again stops to gaze. The hunter, still 

 keeping prostrate, approaches, if necessary, under cover of those already 

 killed, and continues the work of destruction. The shots are thus often 



