The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-03-17

DIR. Carver Tells How the Great Herds wer
Wiped Out.

Drs CarSer 1e1S HOW the treat Her0S were
Wiped Out.
Interview In Kansas City Times.
"As the Indians hunted them. the race of
bison would probably have lasted forever,
but about 1866 the white men turned their
attention to the shaggy monsters of the
plains. Large Eastern firms organized
hunting parties, and paid the shooters 81. so
for each bison where he lay dead on the
plains. / then went to Southern Nebraska
and became a professional hunter. The
bison consisted of two large divisions the
one living in the South, and the other in
the North. Their only common feeding
ground was along the Republican river
were well aware of that fact, and hostile
tribes have had many fight for that ter
ritOry. 1t was not until 1873 that the gov
eminent put an end to this by sending the
Northern reservations. Prior to that time
we had to do all of our hunting at the risk
of being scalped at any time.
Our favOrlte gun was an army model of
the Springfield rifle. 45-calibre and loaded
with ninety grains of powder. The whites
patterned after the Indians and hunted on
horseback. Having wagons to haul our
game, we did not care to ''circle" them as
the Indians did. When herd was located
we would mount our best horses and as
the leeward side. AS soon as they saw us
the fun would begin. Although of low
build, the bison will make a very interest
ing race with horse for ten miles. We
would press. up on the right flank of the
our guns would touch the side when fired.
The most deadly shot was to fire quartering
through the lungs, SO that the animal
would bleed to death. In this way we
would follow the herd as long as our horses
killed 113 bison, none of which were
more than one hundred yards apart. In
riding back an awful sight was pre-
scented to the eye; The trail was
An occasional big bull would have a
broken back so that he could only get up
on his fore legs, and nothing could look
more furious than his shaking head, with
cOal-black eyes glaring in death stare
from his shaggy front. We received our
pay for the animals dead ON the plains, and
wagons followed us up, quartered the ami
mails and shipped the saddle and tallOw to
Eastern markets
About 1871 the hide hunting began.
Prior to this time little or no attention was
paid to the skins, but when the demand for
them created a high price the meat was
allowed to rot upon the plains and this
magnificent race was extlnguished simply
that eXtravagant tastes might be satisfied.
With the improvements in firearms an en-
tirely different mode of hunting was
adopted. The Springfield army gun was
superseded by a Sharp fifty-calibre and
loaded with 10 grains of powder. The
hunter used his horse only in
finding a herd. This done, we would go
to the leeward side so that the scent of the
powder and report would not reach the an
finals, and find a suitable shelter about
1000 yards distant from them. / have
killed them at a distance of a mile. Hunt
ing in this way we had to be very partic-
ular, and watch the herd closely. Like a
herd of cattle. the bison are always on the
GO. and are apt to walk out of rifle range in
short time. In moving, however, they
always have leader, and the trick was to
kill any one that started to lead the others
off. By thus killing the leaders, we could
often shoot for an hour from behind one
clump of grass, and when they had moved
out of range the SINNERS would come up
cut the hide in the ordinary way for skin
ming, tie the animals Lead to a stake, hitch
a team of horses to the hide and jerk
it off. No one will ever know what i'm
mense number of bison were killed by these
hide-hunters, but to my certain knowledge
100000 hides were shipped from the banks
of the Frenchman river in one winter.
The hide-hunters by a system of fires, kept
the bison from the streams until many of
them persisted, and thousands of others
were easily killed. At the close of that
winter a man could go along the French
man for fifty miles by simply jumping from
the carcass of one bison to another. Con-
sidering facts of this kind, it is not sur
prising that small, tame herd and few
old circus animals represent the great herds
which, less than a quarter of century ago,
blacked miles, of prairie as thunder-cloud
darkens the skyD