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
Like most young animals, the calf of the buffalo is very easily tamed,
especially if taken when only a few weeks old. The one captured in
Montana by the writer, resisted at first as stoutly as it was able, by
butting with its head, but after we had tied its legs together and
carried it to camp, across a horse, it made up its mind to yield
gracefully to the inevitable, and from that moment became perfectly
docile. It very soon learned to drink milk in the most satisfactory
manner, and adapted itself to its new surroundings quite as readily as
any domestic calf would have done. Its only cry was a low-pitched,
pig-like grunt through the nose, which was uttered only when hungry or
thirsty.
I have been told by old frontiersmen and buffalo-hunters that it used to
be a common practice for a hunter who had captured a young calf to make
it follow him by placing one of his fingers in its mouth, and allowing
the calf to suck at it for a moment. Often a calf has been induced in
this way to follow a horseman for miles, and eventually to join his camp
outfit. It is said that the same result has been accomplished with
calves by breathing a few times into their nostrils. In this connection
Mr. Catlin's observations on the habits of buffalo calves are most
interesting.
"In pursuing a large herd of buffaloes at the season when their calves
are but a few weeks old, I have often been exceedingly amused with the
curious maneuvers of these shy little things. Amidst the thundering
confusion of a throng of several hundreds or several thousands of these
animals, there will be many of the calves that lose sight of their dams;
and being left behind by the throng, and the swift-passing hunters, they
endeavor to secrete themselves, when they are exceedingly put to it on a
level prairie, where naught can be seen but the short grass of 6 or 8
inches in height, save an occasional bunch of wild sage a few inches
higher, to which the poor affrighted things will run, and dropping on
their knees, will push their noses under it and into the grass, where
they will stand for hours, with their eyes shut, imagining themselves
securely hid, whilst they are standing up quite straight upon their hind
feet, and can easily be seen at several miles distance. It is a familiar
amusement with us, accustomed to these scenes, to retreat back over the
ground where we have just escorted the herd, and approach these little
trembling things, which stubbornly maintain their positions, with
their noses pushed under the grass and their eyes strained upon us, us
we dismount from our horses and are passing around them. From this fixed
position they are sure not to move until hands are laid upon them, and
then for the shins of a novice we can extend our sympathy; or if he can
preserve the skin on his bones from the furious buttings of its head, we
know how to congratulate him on his signal success and good luck.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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