The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1917-06-08

ohiAAoIo III HIS Quilt ana 6SLdDIlSn-
ed permanent camp somewhere in
the vicinity of the ranging buffalo
herds. The camp was generally
'dugout' in the side of 'cutbank,'
obscured from view as much as pos
sible and near some known feeding
ground.
Located at favorable points were
places of concealment, natural if pos
sible, if not, then made to look as
natural as could be, so as not to en-
cite the suspicion of the herd. Ac-
cording to the direction of the wind,
the hunter would select one of these
shelters before dawn, and if undis-
covered, be ready to do business
when the bufafloes had reused and
were at their morning grazing.
Poor brutes. The heavy rifle
made but little noise and was deadly
in it's effect, and when a peaceful
ruminator would suddenly drop in a
heap, from no apparent cause, his
near neighbors would look at the
prone carcass curiously, sniff appre-
hensively once or twice, and seeing
nothing to exile fear, foolishly fall to
grazing again, only to meet the same
ld'S DIS SoOll DIS luelf movements gave
them proper exposure.
twenty-five, thirty, sixty a day
were the scores. Perhaps some
champion made a mountaineering
century, Tt was only a question of
persistence in the man with the gun
and the duration of daylight, for the
ignorant brutes refused absolutely to
stampede and generally stayed in one
locality until the last survivor had
dropped. The days killing was regu-
lated by the number of skinners the
hunters had in his train. No more
were killed than could be skinned
while warm, for the killing was all
done in winter and skinning was i'm
possible once carcass became froZ-
en-. The SINNERS were supposed to
salt, roll and pile the hides safe from
soaking by melted SHOWS and easy of
access for the teams that were to be
sent out for them in the spring. Some
did these things; and many did not
AS general thing, there was a reck-
lessness about the whole procedure
that was natural sequence of the
loose business methods displayed by
the principals; the men who put their
money into the business.
The Hunters Equipment.
"And here was feature of il that
is well-nigh uncomfortable. The hunt
er Was--nine times out of ten-an
improvident, unreliable "cuss" whose
only recommendation was his ability
to shoot. Such men never had cent
to equip themselves with, but found
no difficulty in getting "staked" to
team. wagon and harness, gun and
ammunition, a camp outfit and grub
for the party, an investment of from
$500 to 81 900, in addition to which
the principal agreed to pay the hunt
er the going price for the hides, piled
where killed, to be gathered by him
in the spring, and as an additional
evidence of the lunacy that afflicted
otherwise intelligent business men at
this time, they did not hesitate to
make cash advances during the win
ter on this supposititious killing. 1t
was not at all unusual for the hunter
to show up in town once or twice dur
ing the winter for season of recre-
alton, on which occasions he would
strike his hacker for "few hun
bred" to enable him to do the square
thing by the boys, and the chumps
would meekly dig up, blindly accept
ing the report of operations, on the
strength of which the advance was
asked. In one sense, it was a case
of "have to" as. if refused, the hunt
er was liable to quit and hen the
principal would have the camp of
skinners on his hands with no COM
pensating income. The windup of
such loosely managed affairs may
we'll be imagined. In the spring it
was generally found that the killing
had been largely overstated; that the
hides had been poorly handled and
left to rot in pools of snow and wa
ter and those that were recovered
and brought in, when shipped to east
ern tanners, were in such bad condi-
ton that they rarely repaid the
freight from Miles City eastward,
leaving the bulk of the original in
vestment a permanent debit to ex-
perience.
Winter of Slaughter.
In the spring and summer of 1882
there was shipped out of Custer coun-
ty, Montana, by boat and rail, about
loV,VoV Dulld HUGS, ana Wien IL
is estimated that, owing to careless
handling, this number did not repre-
sent more than rs per cent of the
killing of the previous winter, and
when it is further considered that
this work of determination had been
going on in smaller way for some
two or three years and continued in a
smaller way for another year or two,
it may be granted that this locality
did it's full share in the extermina-
ton of this noble animal. The win
ter of 1880-81 was the record break
er in buffalo killing, owing, no doubt,
to the very deep SHOWS of that WIN
ter, making it almost impossible for
the herds to move. 1t was estimated
that fully 100000 were killed that
winter in what was then Custer coun-
ty. The humanitarian will deplore
this chapter in our history; the fatal
list will argue that in the development