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
But it is not to be understood that the movement of a great herd,
because it was made on a run, necessarily partook of the nature of a
stampede in which a herd sweeps forward in a body. The most graphic
account that I ever obtained of facts bearing on this point was
furnished by Mr. James McNaney, drawn from his experience on the
northern buffalo range in 1882. His party reached the range (on Beaver
Creek, about 100 miles south of Glendive) about the middle of November,
and found buffaloes already there; in fact they had begun to arrive from
the north as early as the middle of October. About the first of December
an immense herd arrived from the north. It reached their vicinity one
night, about 10 o'clock, in a mass that seemed to spread everywhere. As
the hunters sat in their tents, loading cartridges and cleaning their
rifles, a low rumble was heard, which gradually increased to "a
thundering noise," and some one exclaimed, "There! that's a big herd of
buffalo coming in!" All ran out immediately, and hallooed and discharged
rifles to keep the buffaloes from running over their tents. Fortunately,
the horses were picketed some distance away in a grassy coulée, which
the buffaloes did not enter. The herd came at a jog trot, and moved
quite rapidly. "In the morning the whole country was black with
buffalo." It was estimated that 10,000 head were in sight. One immense
detachment went down on to a "flat" and laid down. There it remained
quietly, enjoying a long rest, for about ten days. It gradually broke up
into small bands, which strolled off in various directions looking for
food, and which the hunters quietly attacked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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