The National tribune., 1902-10-30
HUNTING THE BUFFALO.
The Work of determination as II Was Car
rted on by the Platusmen.

Between the Arkansas and the Sas-
katchewan buffalo were always plentiful
enough fer an amateurs hunt; but the
trapper of the plains, to whom the hunt
meant food and clothing and a roof for
the coming year, favored two seasons:
az The end Of June, when he had brought
in his packs to the fur post and the Win
, ter's trapping was over and the post full
Of idle hunters keen for the excitement Of
the chase; G) in Midwinter, when that
curious lull came over animal life before
the Autumn stores had been exhausted
! and before the forage began. In both
seasons the buffalo robes were prime;
sleek and glossy in June before the she'd
ding Of the fleece with the fur at its great
est length, fresh and clean and thick in
Midwinter Bu. in Midwinter the hunters
were scattered, the herds broken in small
battaliOns, the climate perilOus for lone
ly man who might be tempted to track
fleeing herds many miles from a known
course. South of the Yellowstone the in
dividual hunter pursued the buffalo as he
pursued deer, by still hunting; for, though
the buffalo is keen of scent, he is dull of
sight, except sideways on the level. and is
not easily disturbed by noise as long as
he does not see its cause. Behind the
shelter Of a mound and to leeward of the
herd trapper might succeed in bringing
down what would be creditable showing
in moose or elk hunt, but this trapper
was uuHtlIS lOE tutlI EODeS. l. WO
or three robes were not enough from
large herd; and before he could get more
there was likely to be a stampede. DecOy
work was too slow for buffalo hunting, so
was tracking on snowshoes, the way the
Indians hunted north of the Yellowstone.
A wounded buffalo at close range was
quite as vicious as wounded grizzly, and
it did not pay to risk life getting pelt for
which the trader would give only "a to So
worth of goods.
The Indians also hunted buffalo by driv-
ing them over a precipice where hunters
were stationed on each side below, or by
Turing the herd into a pound or pit by
means of an Indian decoy masking under
| a buffalo hide. But precipice and pit de-
stroyed pelts; and if the pound were sort
Of cheval-de-frise, or corral, converging
| to the inner end, it required more hunters
than were ever together except at the in
coming of the Spring brigades.
Were there many hunters and countless
buffalo the white blood Of the plains trap
per preferred fair fight on an open field,
not the indiscriminate carnage of the In
dian hunter. The greatest buffalo runs
| took place after the opening of Spring;
and the greatest Of these were on the
country, where hunters of the Mackinaw
from Michiimackinac, Of the Missouri
from st. Louis, of the Nor westers from
Montreal, of the Hudson's Bay from Fort
Douglas (Winnipeg) used to congregate be-
fore the War of 1872, which barred out
Canadian traders. At a later date the
famous loud-screeching Red River OK carts
| were used to transport supplies to the
scene of the hunt; but at the opening of
| the last century all hunters, whites, Indi-
| ans, and squaws, rode to field on cayuse
ponies or brOnchOs, with no more supplies
than could be slowed away in a saddle
pack and no other escort than the old
| fashioned musket over each white mans
| shoulder. The Indians were armed with
bow and arrows only. The course usually
led north and westward, for the reason
| that at this season the herds were on their
great migration north and the course of
the rivers headed them westward From
the first day out the hunter best fitted for
the captaincy was recognized as leader,
and such discipline was maintained as
prevented unruly spirits stampeding the
buffalo before the cavalcade had closed
near enough for the wild rush.
At night the hunters slept under open
| sky, with horses picketed to saddles, sad
dies as pillows, and musket in hand When
the course led through the country of hos
tiles sentinels kept guard; but midnight
usually saw all hunters in the deep sIeep
OF outdoor life, bare face upturned to the
stars, little tenuOus stream Of uprising
smoke where the campfire still glowed red:
on the far shad0wy horizon, where the
mooniit sky line met the billowing prairie
in perfect circle, vague whitish forms
the coyotes keeping watch steaithily and
shunless as death.
| The northward movement Of the buffalo
began with the Spring. Odd scattered
herds might have roamed the valleys in
the Winter, but as the grass grew deeper
and lush with Spring rains the reaches of
prairie land Became literally covered with
the humpback, furry forms Of the rowing
herds. Indian legends ascribed their COM
ing directly to the spirits. The more pro-
sale white man explained that the buffalo
We're only emerging from Winter shelter,