EXTINCTION OF THE BISON.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2704, 9 November 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

EXTINCTION OF THE BISON.

As the Indians hunted them, the race of bison would probably have lasted for ever, but about 1866 the white men turned their attention to the shaggy monsters of the plains. I then went to Southern Nebraska and became a professional hunter. The bison consisted of two large divisions, the one living in the south and the other in the north. Their only common feeding ground was along the Republican River and its branches in Nebraska. The Indians were well aware of that fact, and hostile tribes have had many a fight for that territory. It was not untill 1873 that the Government put an end to this by sending the Pawnees south and the Sioux to their northern reservations. Prior to that time we had to do all our hunting at the risk of being scalped at any time. Our favourite gun wasan army model of the Springfield rifle, 45-calibre and loaded with ninety grains of powder. The whites patterned after the Indians and hunted on horseback. Haring waggons to haul our game, we did not care to circle them as the Indians did. When a herd was located we would mount our best horses and as quickly as possible approach the herd from the leeward aide. As soon as they saw us the fun would begin. Although of a low build,the bison will make a very interesting race with a horse for ten miles. We would press up on the right flank of the herd and ride so close to the animals that our guns would touch the side when fired The most deadly shot was to fire quartering through the lungs so that the animal would bleed to death. In this way we would follow the herd as long as our horses could stand it. On one of these runs I killed 113 bison, none of which were more than 100 yards apart. In riding back an awful sight was presented to the eye. The trail was marked by dead and dying animals. An occasional big bull would have a broken back so that he could only get up on his fore legs and nothing could look more furious than his shaking head, with coldblack eyes glaring in a death stare from his shaggy front. We received our pay for the animals dead on the plains, and waggons followed ua up, quartered the animals and shipped the saddle and tallow to Eastern markets. About 1871 the hidehunting began. Prior to this time little or no attention was paid to the skins, but when the demand for them created a high price the meat was allowed to rot upon the plains, and this magnificent race" was extinguished simply that extravagant tastes mightbe satisfied. With the improvements in fire arms an entirely different mode of hunting was adopted. The Springfield army gun was superseded by a Sharp 58.calibre and loaded with 110 grains of powder. The hunter used his horse only in finding a herd, This done, we would go to the leeward side so that the scent of the powder and report would not reach the animals, and find a suitable shelter about 10P0 yards distant from them, I have killed them at a distance of a mile. Hunting in this way we have to be very particular, and watch the herd closely. Like a herd of cattle, the bison are always on the go, and are apt to walk out of rifle range in a short time. In moving, however, they always have a leader, and the trick was to kill any one that started to lead the others off. By thus killing the leaders, we could often shoot for an hour from behind one clump of grass, and when they had moved out of range, the skinners would come up, out the hide in the ordinary way for skinning, tie the animal's head to a stake, hitch a team of horses to the hide, and jerk it off. No one will ever know what immense numbers of bison were killed by these hide hunters, but to my certain knowledge 3,000,000 hides were shipped from the banks of theFrencbman river in one winter At the close of that winter a man could go along the banks of the Frenchman for fifty miles by simply jumping from the carcase of one bison to another. Now a few old circus animals represent the great herds.—Dr Carver in Kanses City Times.