The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-13
BUFFALO PLAYED 'PossUM.

| h. P,ainsman and "a wounds Bul..
| From the New York Sun.
| A tall. wiry man, with a bronzed face
and the peculiar swing to his gait that
Westeyners have, showing in marked
] contrast with the walk of the Maine
| woodsman, Jack Darling. was to be seen
any day at the Sportsmen's exposition
while IL lasted. His name is L. A. Hoff-
] man. and he is from Miles City. Mont.
Can he shoot?'' asked a man.
We'll, rather" a man who knew Hoff-
| man answered. Hes killed everything
| from buffaloes to Indians, 1 reckon. Why,
| say, he an Cap'n Baldwin were hunting
once out between Northern Missouri and
| the Yellowstone river somewhere when
| the fellow who was ahead of the line re-
| ported two elk. Hoffman and the Cap'n
| piled out of the ambulance and pretty
| soon they were about 400 yards from the
| animals, who wouldn't be any closer, see
| ing as they were alarmed by this time
| The two opened on them, first one, then
t'other One elk went out of sight all of
! a sudden; the other is going yet. They
found the bull elk dead in a depression.
There wasn't a sign of a wound that they
coul find
Il killed him." says the Cap'n.
"'You didn't said Hoffman. Show
where you hit it,
Hoffman knew. He had seen every
bullet strike the dirt before or behind the
animals except one of his. So they ar
gued and joshed one another till by and
by Hoffman got to thinking. The upshot
of 1t was Hoffman got up and went to
the elk's head and rubbed his finger
around the burrs of the horns. Right up
in the shadow of the horns, where, 1T
hadn't been noticed was a bullet hole
that ran down into the animals brain.
" Hi" said Hoffman, look here Cap'n.'
They cut the bullet out and 1T was,
Ia - - Ii
man Hoffman is" ,r,s. $50
Mr.. Hoffman was asked what was the
most interesting experience he had ever
had with an animal He thought awhile,
then said:
You see. I have been out there %
years now, and it takes some time to
calculate on them, but 1 remember once
when / first got out there. 1 was a pretty
green lad then. I'd been there about
year and had killed a few score buffaloes,
making the first money that way l ever
earned out in that country. l killed
few that day-30 or 40-and was just 60
/ ing to camp about dusk up through a
draw with almost perpendicular sides.
when / came to a place where buffaloes
cross such gulleys, where they go down
and climb up on the far side again. l
looked up, and there was a big bulls
head and shoulders showing over the
bank, looking like that one there" point
ing to a head that G.. o. Shields, editor
of Recreation, had killed.
81 took out the ramrod, which / had
put into cool the gun barrel off. 1t being
heated by rapid shooting. Well. up and
shot. ana the head went out of sight like
a scared panther
II climbed up on the opposite side of
the draw-I didn't care to be any closer
to a wounded bull than necessary-and
there lay the bull stretched out dead, /
hflf toll frO ony
chances. so l yelled at him. He got up
quick as a coyote and went smashing
down into the draw, intending to come up
on my side. / watched him to see what
else he would do, because / knew l could
get him after he had started up my bank.
He tried to climb, but slipped back. He
was sticking out his tongue and licking
his upper lip, just like all buffaloes do
when they are right down fighting an
cry.
HE wasn't nice looking at any time
big NANCY bull with the hide hanging
off him in folds never is. He looked I'M
canny when he was lying down playing
'possum i'm the dusk. but his eyes looked
worse down in the draw. After a bit his
wound got pretty sore and he began to
act like a wounded jack rabbt-they al
ways skulk. There We're a lot of pyra-
mids of dried mud down in the draw that
were anywhere from three to IL feet tall.
he would get benind one OF those ana Ia
walk along to where l could see him.
There he would stand with his nose al
most to the ground, his eyes shut-just
like deer in a snowstorm, or a whipped
dog. He was sick. I'd get where l could
see him. In a minute he would feel that
some one was looking at him and he
would open his eyes. see me- then sneak
off again. After we had played hide and
seek awhile IL got pretty dark, so /
killed him with a bullet in the shoulder"