The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-07-31
THE BUFFALO.
HIS Tramp will Soon Be Heard No More On
The Plains
From the Helena Mont. independent.

| From the Helena Mont Independent.
In going down the Yellowstone and
across the vast region lying between
| Glendiye and Mandan, one is struck with
the evident scarcity of game The famous
region, where, two or three years ago,
herds of buffalo, antelope and deer were
to be seen on every side. is now to all
appearances stripped of its game. For
| the entire distance from Livingston to
| Mandan | only saw two or three small
bands of antelope and not a sign of a
deer or buffalo The fact is, the slaughter
of the buffalo and deer has been immense
for the past two years, and particularly
of the former 1t is estimated that during
the past Winter there have been thous-
and hunters engaged in the business of
slaughtering buffalo along the line OF the
| Northern Pacific between Mandan and
Livingston. An eagle eyed hunter got
aboard of the train at Glendive, and he
gave me the following interesting details
as the modus operandi in slaughtering
herds of buffalo: In the first place, the
experienced hunter uses the Sharp rifle,
1870 caliber. With this he can kill at
| / 600 yards When he sees herd of
buffalo e usually slips up to within con-
venient range, from 800 to 800 yards
and always selects a COW for his first
victim. He does this for the reason that
the COW is followed by both her yearling
and two-year old calves and they will
usually stand by her to the last But
under no circumstances will the exper-
fenced hunter kill his buffalo outright If
| he does the herd will stampede at once.
The policy is to wound fatally, but so
that the animal will dash around before
falling. This it always does when NOR
tally wounded, and after few moments
lies down. The remainder of the herd
are not alarmed at this, but continue to
gaze or look on dazed spectators of the
tradgedy being enacted. After his first
shot the hunter pauses until quiet is re-
stored, and again fires at another COW
with similar results. He always aims to
put his ball Just behind the fore shoulder,
which will cause death in FIVE minutes at
furthest When the cows have all been
slain he then turns his attention to the
calves, and lastly the bulls. The exper
fenced hunter generally bags his entire
his game Immediately, when all the sur
vivors stampede at once The buffalo
does not scare at the crack Of gun. He
has decidedly more courage than discre-
ton. II is only when the crack is follow,
ed by an immediate fall that he. realizes
its deadly nature and takes alarm. The
policy of killing the COWS first, and ther
the calves, has resulted in the almost ut
ter extinction of the female buffalo
Herds of melancholy bulls can yet be seer
sometimes in bands of twenty or thirty,
and often without single COW. The
few remaining cows now have their pick
of lovers, and always choose from the
Young blood of the herd
The buffalo bull, after he passes his
fourth year, loses his attraCtiveness to
the opposite sex, and the aversion seems
to be mutual Gathering about him his
bachelor friends of equal age, he sudden.
ly retires into the wilderness and forever
avoids the female members of the herd,
who mate with younger and more uxor
ious masculines. As | have said the
bulls are about all that are now left oil
the buffalo They largely owe their safety
to the fact that their hides are less val
liable those of the cows, while at the
same time they are far more difficult tc
kill. The hide of the bull is only worth
to the hunter from 81 50 to So, while
that of the COW brings S3.25. and that o.
the 2-year old-calf is worth 81 to $3.50
But of late there has been sprung W
quite a demand throughout the East fol-
the head of the buffalo bull. The vel
preserved head of an aged bull. .decked
out with glass eyes and horns intact will
readily sell for S25 in the Eastern mar
kets Consequently the buffalo hunter OF
the future will will wage a destructive
war upon the bull tribe, and these veneer
able relics of a bygone era will also pass
swiftly away.