A Herd of Thirteen Buffalo,
two big bulls, one calf of this year, and the rest cows and yearlings. Their photograph was taken three times at sixty yards, before they became alarmed and ran off.
“Bear tracks abound everywhere, and that night Beaulieu shot an old bear and two cubs within fifty yards of our camp.”
The Inspector reports as follows as to the next day’s operations:—“Beaulieu and myself started out at 6:45 a.m. and travelled around the west side of Salt mountain until 10:40 p.m., following fresh tracks of two buffalo, until we came upon fresh tracks of what appeared to be a large herd. We tied our horses in the woods and followed along for about a mile through wet, swampy ground, until we came in sight of a bunch, all of which were lying down except three large bulls. They were on a large salt lick. We crawled up to within (which we afterwards measured) fifty paces of them, through the brush. I took out my glasses but owing to our position, could not get a correct count of them. After resting for a little while we both walked into the open. I took out my pocket book and wrote down as follows:—‘Four big bulls, one yearling, four little calves, three two-year-olds, and eight cows.’ They then saw us and got up one by one and stared at us, showing how easily they can be approached and killed. Beaulieu then shouted and they galloped into the woods. The bulls were magnificent looking animals. They had not yet shed all their winter coat, but the cows were sleek and fine looking. Before going into the open, Beaulieu, who had his rifle along, said, ‘Mon Dieu, major; let me kill him one cow.’ I explained to him that we would be fined five hundred dollars and that I would lose my position. He then said, ‘Let me kill him one for the Government.’ But I would not permit it. We returned to the camp where we had left Mr. Seton and that evening moved our camp to a spot where we thought these animals might pass. But we saw no more of them. As we
Had Seen Thirty-Three of These Animals,
and the fresh tracks of ten or twelve more, possibly bulls, in the woods, we concluded that we had seen all the buffalo in this particular district. And as there was no time to go to Peace point and rapid de Beaulieu, and keep our word with the guide, I decided to return, to go to Fort Smith and arrange if possible to see the band reported to be in the Caribou mountains, near Hay river. We looked everywhere for buffalo bones, but found only four very old skeletons, with nothing to tell how they had been killed. At all drinking places, muddy lakes, marshes and salt licks, we looked particularly for tracks of wolves and found very few. I got a glimpse of one small wolf, or possibly coyote, in the woods, and heard one coyote calling, just as we were leaving the mountain, he having smelt the bear we had killed. We found the skull of one wolf killed years ago, but I am forced to conclude that wolves are scarce here, and I found ample justification for my suspicion that the constant cry of ‘wolf’ is a mere ruse to divert attention from the two-legged depredators, who are really doing the mischief.
Looking across Slave river from Fort Smith.
“Other game abounded. Bear tracks were seen on every side. Caribou are said to be plentiful in winter. Moose are common. I saw one without doing any hunting. This is important for the buffalo, as several well known hunters claim this region as their hunting and trapping grounds. They go in ostensibly to kill moose and come out abundantly supplied with pemmican, but bring out very few moose skins. I am informed by the traders here, that a few years ago these hunters begged sale for moose skins, but of late years scarcely any have been brought out. This is very suspicious, to say the least of it. These men did all they could to prevent my going in, and I consider it no longer doubtful what is destroying the buffalo.
“The following morning the guide announced that his time was nearly up and he wanted to return to Smith Landing, which we did, arriving there at 4 p.m. on the afternoon of June 16. It will be seen by the map, that we barely entered the buffalo country, so were fortunate in seeing so many head.