Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-12-09
S1omth' q Column /.
Buffalo-Huntlng in 1877.


es were turned loose to Craze and re-
fresh themselves after their trying
journey, during which they had lost
flesh wofullv. They were watched
and tended by the two men who were
always left In camp. and, save on
rare occasions, the horses were only
used to haul in buffalo hides. The
camp-guards for the time being acted
as cooks; and, though coffee and
flour both ran short and finally gave
out, fresh meat of every kind was
abundant. The camp was never
without buffalo beef, deer and ante
lope venison, wild turkeys, prairie
chickens, quails, ducks and rabbits.
The birds were simply "potted' as
occasion required when the quarry
was deer or antelope, the hunters
took the dogs with them to run down
the wounded animals. But almost
the entire attention of the hunters
was given to the buffalo. After an
evening spent in lounging round the
campfire, and sound nights sleep,
wrapped in robes and blankets, they
would get up before daybreak, snatch
a hurried breakfast, and start off in
couples through the chilly dawn.
The great beasts were very plentiful !;
in the first days hunt, twenty were
slain; but the herds were restless
and ever on the move. Sometimes
they would be seen by the camp,
and again it would need an all-day S
tramp to find them. There was no
difficulty in spying them-the chief
trouble with forest game for on the
prairie buffalo makes no effort to
hide, and its black, shaggy bulk
looms up as far as the eye can see.
Sometimes they were found in small
parties of three or four individuals,
sometimes in bands of about two
hundred and again in great herds of
many thousand and solitary old
bulls, expelled from the herds, were
common. If on broken land, among
hills and ravines, there was not much
difficulty in approaching from the
leeward for, though the sense of
smell in the buffalo is very acute,
they do not see we'll at distance
through their overhanging frontlets
of coarse and matted hair. If as
was generally the case, they were out
on the open rolling prairie, the stalk
ing was far more difficult. Every
hollow, every earth hummock and
sagebush had to be used as cover.
The hunter wriggled through the
grass fiat on his face, pushing HIM
self along for perhaps a quarter of a
mile by his toes and fingers, needless
of spiny cactus. When near enough
TO the huge, unconscious quarry the
hunter began firing, still keeping
himself carefully concealed. If the
smoke was blown away by the wind,
and if the buffaloes caught no glimpse
of the assailant, they would often
stand motionless and stupid until
many of their number had been slain
the hunter being careful not to aim
too high, aiming just behind the
shoulder, about third Of the way up
the body, that his bullet might &C
through the lungs. Sometimes, even
after they saw the man, they woulo
act as if confused and panic-struck,
budding up together and staring al
the smoke puffs-but generally they
were off at a numbering gallop as
soon as they had an idea of the
point of danger. When once started
they ran for many miles before halt
ing, and their pursuit on foot was
extremely laborious.-St. Nicholas
for December.