BUFFALO-BAGGING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10274, 8 May 1919, Page 3

BUFFALO-BAGGING

TEN THOUSAND HEAD NIMROD OF THE AUSTRALIAN NORTH. Reputed to be tbe world's greatest buffalo shooter, few men are as interesting to converse with as is Mr P. Oahill, who is in Melbourne on leave after spending sis and a half years iii charge of the. Federal Government aboriginal station. at... Penpella, near Darwin.

In his whole career, says' an Australian dnilv, as a buffalo shooter, Mr Cahill has uccounted for between 9000 and 10,000 animals in the Northern Territory, and in the course of his hunting, ho lias had many narrow escapes trom death. Un one occasion Mr Cahill, owing to to his rifle jamming, while shooting in a swanip, had to submerge with only His nose and eyes showing above water to save himself from ,an infuriated animal which had been wounded and was charging him. His narrowest c&cape from death, fie says, occurred when a buffalo fell when rushing at him. Mr Cahill's horse fell on top of the maddened buffalo, and its rider was thrust between the two struggling animals.

Speaking of buffaloes in the Territory, Mr Cahill',said that the animals were first brought into the north by the Admiralty, in the early days, m an expedition partly to exploit the Coourg peninsula, and partly to, provide for starving . shipwrecked!, crews on the coast. Once introduced the buffaloes thrived, and spread to the Fast A'ligator river. The buffaloes running -,'i tbe Adelaide river, near Darwin, were released by the South Austalian Gcwmv ment, from the Escape Cliffs tettlrment, before 1870. The progeny, of these animals are the buffaloes in the Territory to-day. The animals left in the East Alligator district are few now. states Mr Cahill. EQUESTRIAN- ■ MARKSMANSHIP. It was in 1892 that Mr Cahill began hunting, the sale object being the hides, which Were highly, profitable The method of killing the animals was to stalk them on foot, but Mr Cahill introduced the'-method -of shooting them from horseback, an; idea which evoked expressions of ridicule at the outset, but which eventually became firmly established; 1 At the beginning it sometimes took three shots from a rifle' to kill a beast, but as rider and horse became trained to the art. a buffalo for every bullet was registered. In his first season Mr Cahill obtained 1250 buffaloes, and from that time he always finished" the season with the biggest tally. "The greatest numher secured in one year was 1605. in J4i days' shooting. • ''ln setting Silt, on the hunt," said Mr Cahill, "I usually took 10 packhorses and two or three riding horses, which had to be in tip-top condition for the severe gallops after buffaloes. Wo carried cartridges, rations, and salt, for the preliminary curing of the : hides. About 16 naiaves" followed on foot, for skinning and curing the hides. A camp would be prepared as near to navigable water in the river as possible, and with daylight we would set out. I would ride ahead, the natives "following in my tracks. As soon as a mob of buffaloes were seen, I would follow at a gallop and shoot from behind, to as to" break the bucaloes' backs. Some years ago, on a, plain, in one run of one and si-half miles, in 56 shots I got !48 buffaloes, and then had to desist i through lack of ammunition. "When one gets expert at-shooting," i continued Mr Cahill, "he can hit any < animal so as to smash the spine within a- range of 30 yards. I fired with a Martini rifle, after the manner of a revolver, with one hand, the qthor holding the reins. t "After a, dayV hunting, 're' would sometimes be midnight' before" we returned to the .camii with the hides on the pnekharsos. These hides would be Dart'v dried and could be sent to Darwin bv launch or lugger for eventual shipment' to London. .. The. .natives would be paid" with tobacco, "nd furither allowances at the end", or the hunt. ' HUNTING GROUND LIMITED.

I Buffalo hunting to-day, stated Mr CahiJl, is limited to the vicinity- of the Adelaide river district, the other parts of the Territory having been shot out. till only, a few stray animals arc met with. Before the hide industry had become firmly established Mr C'nhiH. on one occasion, sw'aiioli of 3000 buffaloes on one plain. On one occasion, by simply taking cover behind an anthill, Mr Cahill with a. silencer on hi* rifle, shot 27 in a short period at distances of 50 to 200 yards. Tho.wii.n-. jured animals, instead of becoming alarmed nt the fall of their mates, walked across t» tlio fallen bodies with nn unsophisticated curiosity, only to bocomo victims themselves.. Mr. Cahill's last hunt was'three and :i. half years nj;o on beha.if of the Commonwealth Government on the Wbolner aboriginal reserve. With "Quilp," an expert aboriginal, who accompanies Mr Cahil! on his trip to Melbourne, lip accounted for 360 buffaloes in 28 days. The hides average 30s each. Altogether, Mr Cahill states, 200.000 animals havo been shot since the hide industry was established, and of these he has accounted for'nearly 10,000.

"Many l of the' old bull buffaloes,"' said Mr Cnhill, "in certain parts of the. forehead have a bone five inches in thickness, and I have shot several bullets at" such an animal, which only ■shook its head at the impact, and camo straight on. The young .bulls, of course are ''different. I attribute tills"" strength of" bone in the, old animals to the thickening of the skull through fighting. Some of the beasts are 15ewt, and when they fight, which is often, they do so in the manner of rams. They start, off and charge one another from a. distance, oF 50 yards or so. The hulls will maintain a feud for days, and in their quarrel one will follow the other until they get separated from the herds, and in some ;snch cases, two animals have often managed to stray right down to Queensland. "The buffaloes" are extreme.Ty powerful, and on one occasion I saw a horse tossed completely into the air, and another.- hnd'jts thigh torn clean off. When charging the animals lower their heads and shut their "eyes, but so long as a man keeps cool he can dodge.

"Same amusement was created when the natives of the bark 'cnuvtry were hrought into contact with horses. They entertained the somehow strange idea that where h. white man could go bis horse could go also, and Mr 'Onhill found in' ono case - a • terror-stricken aborigine, who had been chased by a butfnloj seated in a tree hauling away at the horse's halter in an endeavour to ■get'if to climb also.'.'.-, -■ .