80 
FOREST AND STREAM 
February, 1918 
AN OLD TIME BUFFALO HUNT WITH INDIANS 
STRIPPED TO THE WAIST AND RIDING LIKE CENTAURS, THE REDSKINS SURROUNDED 
THE HERDS OF BUFFALO AND SLAUGHTERED THEM WITH BOWS AND ARROWS 
I N 1873 I "'as the Agent at Buffalo Sta¬ 
tion, a little frontier office in western 
Kansas, on the line of the Kansas Pa¬ 
cific Railway. 
Many buf- 
f a 1 o still 
roamed the 
prairies, a 1 - 
though a 1 - 
ready they 
were fast dis¬ 
appearing as a 
result of the 
shameful and 
re 1 e n 11 e s s 
warfare 
waged against 
them by large 
outfits o f 
buffalo hunt¬ 
ers who were 
destr o y i n g 
them by thou¬ 
sands for 
their hides 
alone. The 
summer hides 
sold accord¬ 
ing to weight 
for from $1.20 
to $i.8o each; 
and these 
when tanned 
were used 
principally in 
the manufac¬ 
ture of Gov¬ 
ernment mail 
bags and car¬ 
riage tops. A 
well equipped 
outfit c o m - 
prised one 
hunter, sever¬ 
al skinners, a 
team and 
driver to haul the skins to the temporary 
camp, a man to peg out the hides and, when 
dry and fleshed, to press them by means 
of a rude but effective baling press into 
compact bundles ready for shipment. There 
was a team to haul the hides to the railway 
station and to bring back supplies; and a 
man to cook for the outfit. 
The hunter thoroughly understood the 
nature and peculiarities of the buffalo. If 
no cover was available, he could crawl upon 
a herd from the leeward on the open prai¬ 
rie. Removing his hat he crept towards 
them, watching closely. The moment any 
buffalo looked at him he flattened out and 
lay perfectly still. Even if the herd was 
lying down there were usually several on 
foot who seemed as if on guard and upon 
these the approaching hunter concentrated 
his attention. After gazing upon him fix¬ 
edly for some time and seeing no move¬ 
ment, their curiosity subsided and they re¬ 
sumed grazing. The moment they dropped 
their heads the hunter rapidly crawled 
towards them until again observed, when 
the same tactics were repeated until he 
By W. A. STERNBERG 
finally got within easy killing distance. 
The hunter almost invariably used the 
Sharps rifle, calibre 50/90. He did not fire 
until he was certain of killing the one he 
had ascertained to be the leader. This done 
he waited until the buffalo stopped moving 
about. Often they did not seem to notice 
the shot, or perhaps they might look for a 
moment. Then he would drop another one. 
Had he shown himself or fired quickly he 
would have stampeded the herd, but by 
shooting slowly he secured what was called 
a “stand,” and in a single stand as many 
as forty buffalo have been killed before the 
herd finally moved off. The hunter’s only 
■work was to shoot; he received big wages 
and of course was a skilled marksman. 
The herd would generally run several 
miles; the hunter would follow and after 
giving them time to quiet down would pur¬ 
sue thd same tactics. I have known skill¬ 
ful hunters to kill as many as 90 in a day. 
When one remembers that there were 
hundreds of such outfits scattered through 
the buffalo country one ceases to wonder 
that the countless thousands that roamed 
the plains were annihilated in a few years. 
Early in the month of November I was 
somewhat startled at seeing a large band of 
Indians approaching from the north; there 
was no one at the station but the section 
men, myself and Jim Thompson, who ran 
the section 
boarding 
house. The 
Indians 
proved to be 
peaceful 
Omaha I n - 
dians, under 
the leadership 
of their chief, 
“Big Elk,” on 
their annual 
buffalo hunt. 
I think the 
' whole tribe 
was there, ex¬ 
cept possibly 
a few old and 
decrepit mem¬ 
bers left be¬ 
hind. They 
went into 
camp a short 
distance south 
of the station 
and it was an 
intere s t i n g 
sight to see 
with what 
skill and 
speed the 
women placed 
the tepee 
poles and 
covered them 
with their 
hide or can¬ 
vas covering; 
a noisy vil- 
1 a g e spring¬ 
ing up like 
magic where 
a short hour 
before was naught but the bare plains. 
T HE Indians hunt buffalo in their own 
peculiar way. They establish their 
camp in the buffalo country; the 
Chief designates men to act as scouts and 
while most of the men are loafing and 
horses resting in camp it is the business of 
the scouts to scour the surrounding coun¬ 
try, locate the buffalo and ascertain the 
lay of the ground and how best to sur¬ 
round them without being noticed. 
There were about 800 horses in the 
camp but only a few were trained buffalo 
ponies, speedy enough to outrun the swift¬ 
est buffalo. These buffalo ponies had the 
tips of their ears slit to designate them, so 
that in the darkest night if an emergency 
arose the Indians could quickly pick out 
the speediest horses by feeling their ears. 
For several days the scouts failed to 
locate buffalo and in the meantime I had 
gotten on friendly terms with Big Elk, and 
his sub-chief, “Yellow Smoke,” and a very 
intelligent young Indian named Frank La 
Fleche, who spoke excellent English, 
A group of plainsmen and buffalo hunters of the good old days 
