THE EXTERMINATION OF THE AMERICAN BISON. 469 



approach his game much more easily and more closely than would 

 otherwise have been possible. 



Having secured a position within from 100 to 250 yards of his game 

 (often the distance was much greater), the hunter secures a comfortable 

 rest for his huge rifle, all the time keeping his own person thoroughly 

 hidden from view, estimates the distance, carefully adjusts his sights, 

 and begins business. If the herd is moving, the animal in the lead is the 

 first one shot, close behind the fore leg and about a foot above the brisket, 

 which sends the ball through the lungs. If the herd is at rest, the 

 oldest cow is always supposed to be the leader, and she is the one to 

 kill first. The noise startles the buffaloes, they stare at the little cloud 

 of white smoke and feel inclined to run, but seeing their leader hesitate 

 they wait for her. She, when struck, gives a violent start forward, but 

 soon stops, and the blood begins to run from her nostrils in two bright 

 crimson streams. In a couple of minutes her body sways unsteadily, 

 she staggers, tries hard to keep her feet, but soon gives a lurch side- 

 wise and falls. Some of the other members of the herd come around 

 her and stare and sniff in wide-eyed wonder, and one of the more wary 

 starts to lead the herd away. But before she takes half a dozen 

 steps " bang !' ? goes the hidden rifle again, and her leadership is ended 

 forever. Her fall only increases the bewilderment of the survivors over 

 a proceeding which to them is strange and unaccountable, because the 

 danger is not visible. They cluster around the fallen ones, sniff at the 

 warm blood, bawl aloud in wonderment, and do everything but run 

 away. 



The policy of the hunter is to not fire too rapidly, but to attend closely 

 to business, and every time a buffalo attempts to make off, shoot it down. 

 One shot per minute was a moderate rate of firing, but under pressure 

 of circumstances two per minute could be discharged with deliberate 

 precision. With the most accurate hunting rifle ever made, a " dead 

 rest," and a large mark practically motionless, it was no wonder that 

 nearly every shot meant a dead buffalo. The vital spot on a buffalo 

 which stands with its side to the hunter is about a foot in diameter, and 

 on a full-grown bull is considerably more. Under such conditions as 

 the above, which was called getting u a stand,' 7 the hunter nurses his 

 victims just as an angler plays a big fish with light tackle, and in the 

 most methodical manner murders them one by one, either until the last 

 one falls, his cartridges are all expended, or the stupid brutes come to 

 their senses and run away. Occasionally the poor fellow was troubled 

 by having his rifle get too hot to use, but if a snow-bank was at hand 

 he would thrust the weapon into it without ceremony to cool it off. 



A success in getting a stand meant the slaughter of a good- sized 

 herd. A hunter whom I met in Montana, Mr. Harry Andrews, told me 

 that he once fired one hundred and fifteen shots from one spot and killed 

 sixty-three buffalo in less than an hour. The highest number Mr. Mc- 

 Nancy ever knew of being killed in one stand was ninety-one head, but 



