Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-02-13
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sTILL-HUNTIHG FOR BUFFALO.
Indians Disguised Themselves IN
MOIf PeIts and Crent ON the Herds.

Indians Disguised Themselves in
off PeIts and Crept ON the Herds.
1t was the next morning after this
hunt that the chief. Little Bear, came
TO my tent, just as l had finished my
steak, biscuit and coffee. He brought
two Wolfskin DISCUSSES, which l had be-
fore seen in his tepce. Each was made
T two wolf pclts sewed together, with
mounted O $ and tail, and there were
arm holes with short skin sleeves, and
lCggingS for the thighs, which came
nearly down to the knees. the whole
covering fastened to the body with
deerSkin thongs.
He had before promised to take me
on q "wolf-hunt' after buffalo. and he
now put on the largest of the cover
ings, and maneuyered about in front of
my tent, showing the various attitudes
of the wolf, in stumbling along, in
trOtting, and in sneaking upon its prey.
His squaw, wno was welding her
wcvajaba GieShing knife upon an up
turned buffalo pclt pinned to the
ground with wooden pegs, stopped her
work and grinnrd approval. He Ger
''NAiAlN AAALiA1iN h'' AlhN N'lA NAlIt IN Wv
disguise, excepting the legs and the
size, was perfect.
'iI0ogh,' he said. whom he had
shown me how to act in crawling up
to game. we 20 hunt um teWan that
WHy,' pointing to the northwest up the
creek.
/ was glad to 60 upon n still-hunt;
for, to tell the truth, the mixed hurry
l-,.l- - A.. ,,.-..l D.,,-, ,,.,N,ll 1vLl
its useless dangers, did not recommend
it to me when l had time to reflect,
after the excitement was over.
When Little Bear and mounted our
ponies and rode out that morning. the
camp was in an uprOar, as usual in the
preparation for Il hunt. \ scout had
come in with news Of a big herd to the
eastward, and the Indians were running
in ponies, saddling and cinching them
on all hands, and there was much buck
ing and plunging among the wild and
skittiSh ones, as usual. SquawS were
! huStling about at the command of their
lords and masters. and young lads, in
h~alf-leggingS and short shirts, We're
rushing to and fro, making a great pa
rade of helping to get the hunters
started.
Little Bear nus have told his leaders
Of the proposed hunt with me, for no
one paid tie slightest attention to on
Euing out.
We logged directly up the little val
J icy for an hour or more: and then, in
rounding a point of the hill, sighted a
| large band Of buffalo feeding among the
raViarS. and upon the slopes on the on
puSitc side Of the valley. There WAS an
implcnSe Cumbcr III sight, but. Is the
hign grounds were covered aG far over
as we could see, we knew that there
must be more beyond.
Little Bear granted with huge sat
i$factiUn, and gave me To understand III
| hurried words Of POnca and Pigeon En-
glish that the big herds were coming
down from the north.
We hustled our ponies into a rayine
near at hand, and tied them to some
burberry bushes. Then, carrying our
diSguiSeS and guns, the chief with his
bow and his arrows at his back, we
slipped down the ravine into b creek
channel, keeping entirely out OF sight of
the herd. The wind was fairly in our
favor, and we kept along the bed of
the stream, in which ran a little trick
ling brook at the bottom, until we
reached the mouth Of a dry run leading
across the valley and through the mid
die of the herd. There were such runs
and ravineS cutting back into the hills
every half mile or SO.
Up this gully we went at a jog trOt,
! bending low, until il became so shallow
that we could begin to see the buffalo
| upon the hills above.
The chief then squattcd and motioned
| Inc down. We put on the wolf skins,
| he taking the largest; for. despite his
name, he was a large and powerfully
made man.
Adjusting the eye holes so that we
| could see plainly, we crawlcd out upon
| the open ground upon Il hands and
knees. Almost the first thing that hap
pened to me was to get n of my knees
filled with cactus spikes. and while !
writhed about trying TO pull them out,
heard Little Bear growing under his
breath, "Hoogh! tewan heap plenty
we kill heap!'-Frank Welles Calkins
in st. Nicholas.