The Buzby Family -- An Alaska Pioneer Family
Early Days in Montana - page 2The mode of killing was peculiar. Having located the herd of Buffalo, approach under cover against the wind was made until within range of from 300 to 500 yards. The hunter then endeavored to shoot the leader or first one through the lungs, in which case it would lie down almost immediately. If this happened and the herd did not stampede, the chances were good for a killing according to the number of animals in the herd. If they moved away the only thing to be done was to keep out of their wind and wait patiently until they could again be approached unless they took a notion to travel too far away from camp, in which case it was profitable to take a two or three weeks outfit of "grub", tent and stove and follow them i.e., if they were large enough to warrant a good big killing. Most of the rifles used by the professional hunters were Sharp 45 caliber, shooting 110 or 120 grains of black power and 400 grain bullets of soft lead, such gun weighing from 14 to 18 pounds and would shoot clean through a Buffalo at 600 yards. The greatest trouble was the smoke and the report - for those guns could be heard ten or twelve miles away. To avoid making too much smoke, slow shooting was necessary. It was customary to carry a wiping stick along and wipe the gun after each such shot, thus keeping the gun clean and cool all of the time. After a killing had been made the skinning followed; each hide was folded up with the hair inside and left on the prairie until the freighters came for them which might be a few days or months as the case might be. Each hunter would mark or brand his hides with a private mark, which mark or brand was respected by all the other hunters. With the approach of spring, killing was suspended and the accumulated hides were sold to the buyers. Often contracts were made in the fall for the winter killing at so much a head. At the time I came upon the scene the average price paid where the hides were killed was from $1.50 to $2.00 per head, according to the nearness to navigable water, the meat was considered. After the northern Pacific R.R. penetrated the Buffalo range, hind quarters of fat young cows, well handled, would bring about 2¢ per lb. delivered at the R.R., which price was about what it cost to freight it from the killing grounds. The meat was shipped to the eastern markets - mostly to New York where we were told it brought fancy prices. A winter killing and skinning for one man averaged about 500 animals. Some hunters hired skinners and did nothing but the killing. One hunter, Doc Zoll by name, shot 3700 Buffalo the fall and winter of -79. He kept a good sized crew of skinners and camp rustlers busy all winter. On one occasion he killed ninety six animals at one stand. But to resume. Monty and I began to kill black-tail deer in Oct. The deer were plentiful in the breaks of the Yellowstone so that hunting then was a profitable undertaking - dried venison being a standard ration among the hunters. |