Morning journal and courier., 1883-07-20
How BufaIoes are Slaughtered.

frOR the 19I0HA NnAOuI3n&J 1uoepSh0enb In going down the Yellowstone and across
 the vast region lying between Glendive and Mandan one is struck with the evident scar city of game. This famous region, where, two or three years ago, herds of buffalo, an-
 telope and deer were to be seen on every
 side, is now to all appearances stripped of it's
 game. For the entire distance from Living
 ston to Mandan I only saw two or three small bands of antelope, and not 8 sign of deer or buffalo. The fact is, the slaughter of buffalo and deer has been immense for the past two years and particularly of the former. It is estimated that during the last
 winter there have been one thousand hunters engaged in the business of slaughterlng buf-
 falo along the line of the Northern Pacific
 between Mandan and Livingston. An eagle
 eyed hunter got on the train at Glendive, and gave me the following interesting details as the modus operandi in slaughtering herds of buffalo: In the first place, the expert enced hunter uses the Sharpe rifle, 40-90 cali bre. With this he can kill at 8 thousand yards. When he sees herd of buffalo he usually slips up within convenient range, from three hundred to five hundred yards. and always selects COW for his first victim. He does this for the reason that a COW is fol lowed 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 experienced hunter kill his buffalo out
 
 at once. The policy is to wound fatally, but so that the animal will dash around in @ cir cle before falling. This it always does when nnortally 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 tragedy be- ing enacted. After his first shot the hunter pauses until quiet is restored and again fires at another COW, with similar results. He al- ways aims to put his ball just behind the fore shoulder, which will cause death in five min utes at the furthest. When the COWS have all been slain he turns his attention to the calves, and lastly to the bulls The expert enced hunter generally bags his entire herd unless he is so unfortunate as to drop his game immediately, when all the survivors stampede at once. The buffalo does not scare at the crack of the gun. He has deci- dedly more courage than discretion. It is only when the crack is followed by an imme- diate fall that he realizes the deadly nature and takes alarm. The policy of killing the COWS first and then the calves has resulted in the almost utter extinction of the female buffalo. Herds of melancholy bulls can still occasionally be seen, sometimes in bands of twenty or thirty, and often without single COW. The few remaining COWS now often 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 for the opposite sex, and the aversion appears to be mutual. Gathering about him his bachelor friends of equal age he suddenly retires into the will derness and forever avoids the female mem- bers of the herd, who mate with other and more uxorious masculines. As I have said, the bulls are about all that are now left of the buffalo. They largely owe their liberty to the fact that their hides are less valua- bIe than those of the COW, while at the same time they are far more difficult to kill The hide of the bull is only worth to the hunter from $1 80 to $2, while that of the COW brings $3.25, and that of the g. year-oid calf is worth from $1 to $1.50. But of late there has sprung up quite demand throughout the East for the head of the buffalo. The wellpreserved head of an aged bull, decked out with glass eyes | and horns intact, will readily sell for 1925 | In the eastern markets. Consequently the | buffalo hunter of the future will wage a | war upon the bull tribe, and | those venerable relics of by-gone era will | ar pass swiftly away.