Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1903-02-20
he ,'.e Only
Why ?
AN EARLY DAY BUFFALO HUNT

AN EARLY DAY BUFFALO HUNT
Old Time Buffalo Hunter Tells of a Christ
mas Buffalo Hunt.
"A Dickinson correspondent writes:
One of the best known of the men
who followed the occupation Of
buffalo hunters in the days when the
Yellowstone river valley was the
wintering place of thousands Of the
ssIndians' cattle" was Charley,
Trask who has spent the past several
years Of his life on a cattle ranch
near Dickinson, N. D. In all prob
ability he was the last Of the army
Of "hide hunters to give up the oc.
cupation, and it. was only when the
last large herd had been killed off did
he engage in some other pursuit.
In the winter of 1878 he established
his camp on the Yellowstone, a short
distance below the town of Forsyth
now stands. At that time there were
tho Isands of buffaloes roaming the
grass covered hills which border on
the Yellowstone valley, and the
killing Of these was an easy matter for
the experienced hunter. Each hide
meant from 81 to SIS for the hunter,
and the tongue, which was the only
part of the carcass generally saved,
meant from two bits to four bits
more, after it was smoked and cured.
The Yellowstone was not the safest
place in the world for a white man in
those days, for it was the hunting
ground of several warlike tribes Of
Indians, each Of which claimed east
ern Montana at that time, and no
man knew when he would be assailed
by either Sioux or Crow warriors.
But the hide hunters cared little for
the danger. Each winter they stood
to clean up several thousand dollars
as a result of their winters work,
and there was more than one of these
men whose fate has nev-r been
learned.
II do not know whether this story
will interest you or not said Mr.
Trask, "but the very nearest 1 aver
came to losing my scalp was on
Christmas day in 1878, when I was
hunting buffalo in the Yellowstone
valley. In company with four other
skinners l had established my winter
camp in a thick growth of Gotten
woods, which can now be found a few
miles below where the town of For
syth stands and on the opposite side
Of the river. I had followed the oc-
cupation of a buffalo hunter for sever
al seasons and it was seldom that |
got less than 1, O0U hides as the result
Of the winters hunt. The winter Of
'87 passed off unusually we'll, and I
made an extraordinary killing before
I had been in camp over a week,
knocking down over eighty fine
fellows in a single day. l had the
best buffalo pony in the entire coun-
try, and could leave him to his own
devices, once in a herd. The method
i pursued in killing the animals /
will explain to you tenderfeet, was to
get as close as I could to a hand as
they wee grazing and then dash into
them astride of a good pony. The
gun we used in those day were heavy
caliber Sharps rifles and a bullet al
most any place in the huge carcasses
of the bufaloes as they numbered of
generally meant that the animal was
your meat, if you wanted meat. o,
your hide, if you were a hide hunt,
er. I have been told that n mar
has been known to kill over 200 in
single days hunt, but ! v got
that many except on one occasion
that is going to be the story Of to-
night.
christmas day, this year, was al
bright a day as a man ever saw,
There was a little snow on the grcunt
and the air was cold enough to make
a man thresh his arms considerably il
al effort to keep warm. The da.
before I had killed five or six buff Ter
and had sent three SINNERS out will
orders to bring the carcass of a year
ling calf into camp, intending t
roast a good part Of it for our Christ
mas dinner. The weather was so fin
that I concluded that I would take
little hunt, intending to get back int
camp about o'clock in the afternoo
for dinner.
"Down below Forsyth, you re
member the river sweeps close againf
a.high perpendicular bluff. Leadin
back from this bluff there is a Ion
grassy ridge and Q the river
fringe Of scrubby pines follow tt
edge Of the bluff, a cresent-shape
fringe being on each side o. the ridg'
I had frequently noticed the plat
and had thought what a good place
would be to stampede a herd of buff
Ia over and make a nhenOmenal XII