The Extermination of the American BisonHornaday, William T. (William Temple)
History
The Extermination of the American Bison
Hornaday, William T. (William Temple)
American bison; Wildlife conservation -- United States -- Sources
Shortly after sunrise we found the trail, not far from the head of Calf
Creek, and followed it due south. We left the rugged butte region behind
us, and entered a tract of country quite unlike anything we had found
before. It was composed of a succession of rolling hills and deep
hollows, smooth enough on the surface, to all appearances, but like a
desert of sand-hills to traverse. The dry soil was loose and crumbly,
like loose ashes or scoriæ, and the hoofs of our horses sank into it
half-way to the fetlocks at every step. But there was another feature
which was still worse. The whole surface of the ground was cracked and
seamed with a perfect net-work of great cracks, into which our horses
stepped every yard or so, and sank down still farther, with many a
tiresome wrench of the joints. It was terrible ground to go over. To
make it as bad as possible, a thick growth of sage-brush or else
grease-wood was everywhere present for the horses to struggle through,
and when it came to dragging a loaded wagon across that 12-mile stretch
of "bad grounds" or "gumbo ground," as it was called, it was killing
work.
But in spite of the character of this ground, in one way it was a
benefit to us. Owing to its looseness on the surface we were able to
track the buffaloes through it with the greatest ease, whereas on any
other ground in that country it would have been almost impossible. We
followed the trail due south for about 20 miles, which brought us to the
head of a small stream called Taylor Creek. Here the bad grounds ended,
and in the grassy country which lay beyond, tracking was almost
impossible. Just at noon we rode to a high point, and on scanning the
hills and hollows with the binocular discovered the buffaloes lying at
rest on the level top of a small butte 2 miles away. The original bunch
of seven had been joined by an equal number.
We crept up to within 200 yards of the buffaloes, which was as close as
we could go, fired a volley at them just as they lay, and did not even
kill a calf! Instantly they sprang up and dashed away at astonishing
speed, heading straight for the sheltering ravines around the High
Divide.
We had a most exciting and likewise dangerous chase after the herd
through a vast prairie-dog town, honey-combed with holes just right for
a running horse to thrust a leg in up to the knee and snap it off like a
pipe-stem, and across fearfully wide gullies that either had to be
leaped or fallen into. McNaney killed a fine old bull and a beautiful
two year old, or "spike" bull, out of this herd, while I managed to kill
a cow and another large old bull, making four for that day, all told.
This herd of fourteen head was the largest that we saw during the entire
hunt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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