Hide Hunters & Riflemen

MeatEater has announced the next Audiobook in its MeatEater’s American History series, this one focusing on the men who shot the American Bison to the brink of extinction in the aftermath of the American Civil War. The book will be available this October.

This volume follows outstanding entries on The Long Hunters of the 18th Century Trans-Appalachian Frontier, and the Mountain Men of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade.

These audio-only productions are great for road trips or commutes.

Steven Rinella (The MeatEater Podcast) takes you deep into the blood-soaked world of the hide hunters who invaded the western frontier in the aftermath of the Civil War, killing and skinning millions of buffalo to supply a resource-hungry nation with an untapped source of leather. From the scorching plains of Texas to the frozen prairie of northern Montana, they lived a nomadic, hardscrabble existence punctuated by raging blizzards, desperate shootouts, agonizing thirst, stampeding herds, freakish accidents, and backbreaking labor. Little more than a decade after the slaughter began, the hide hunters had transformed the once-teeming buffalo range into a boneyard.

These forgotten marksmen weren’t mythologized frontiersmen or celebrated explorers—they were displaced veterans, farmers’ sons, and wanted outlaws, chasing adventure and opportunity in a world turned upside down by violence and financial insecurity. Their ruthless efficiency stemmed from industrial conditions unique to late-nineteenth century America: transcontinental railroads that connected the Western frontier to eastern cities, revolutionary innovations in long-range rifles, and an insatiable demand for factory belting–made from the skin of buffalo–at the dawn of the machine age. The Hide Hunters is more than a cautionary tale about overexploitation of the natural world. It is an essential chapter of our nation’s story—part survival epic, part ecological tragedy—that left an indelible mark on the American West.

The Long Hunters, the Mountain Men, and the Buffalo Hunters are linked —  engaged across 125 years of American history in the common economic activity of frontiers: the intensive, thoughtlessly profligate exploitation of wildlife resources.

I have long romanticized the Long Hunters and Mountain Men; not so much the Buffalo Hunters (though I did love Matt Braun’s novel Cimmaron Jordan when I was a teenager). The reason is hinted at in the passage above: the late 19th century buffalo slaughter was an industrial process that somehow feels different than over-trapping the beaver streams and shooting millions of whitetail deer for the 18th CenturyAtlantic hide trade. Irrational, right? I will be interested to see how Rinella approaches that.

One thing we must acknowledge is that some of the Buffalo Hunters were among the finest marksmen the frontier ever produced. They had advanced tools for the job — most notably (but not exclusively) the 1874 Sharps Rifle, purpose-built for the trade. The Sharps Big Fifty (as in .50 caliber — driven by stout charges of blackpowder — as in .50-90) is as storied a rifle as the Hawken or the American Long Rifle, and for good reason. It was the apogee of blackpowder cartridge guns for long-range work.

Men like Billy Dixon made their living and reputation making long-range “stands” and, when pressed, they could transfer their commercial shooting prowess to the battlefield.

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Speaking of rifle-shootin’…

I had one of the best range days I’ve ever had on Wednesday. I needed it. Bad. The newspaper work has been a grinder for several weeks, capped by a pretty intense couple of days due to the Flat Fire, which threatened the whole community and took four homes.

I am an introvert — not the shy and retiring kind, but the kind that gets run down by constant exposure to and interaction with other people, the kind that needs solitude to recharge. My battery was plumb flat.

I was determined to get out for a multi-hour session, by myself, and let gunpowder therapy do its thing. The Tactical Games training is over, but I have continued my Frontier Partisan biathlon, and am including some elements brought in from the TG training. KB carries and sled drags and sandbag work, obstacles and the like.

Rather than all-out effort in a compressed timeframe, I did a lot of work, but at a tempo I could sustain for three hours with a couple of 15 minute rest breaks thrown in. I wasn’t shooting a Sharps Big Fifty. Or the AR-15 and 9 mm pistol, for that matter. I deployed the old standbys, the CZ 452 .22 LR, and its safe-mate, a CZ 457 .22 LR. And the S&W 617 .22 LR revolver. That way I could run through 200+ rounds for maybe $12 instead of burning through a C-note’s worth of ammo. And, anyway, I love those guns…

I always tell folks, invest in the best rimfire you can afford and shoot as much as you can with it. The skills you build and hone will translate to whatever your centerfire game is — from the hunting field to the tactical stuff. And you won’t break the bank.

Worked at 50 yards offhand and kneeling, on clays and a 4-inch/2-inch steel gong, and on clays at 100 off a rest on the truck hood. Also some snap shooting at 25 yards on the gongs. All iron sights.

Nary a buffler was harmed — although I think I earned me a buffalo burger.

Anyways…

It was a good day. A real good day. I had the hot hand, and had to work pretty hard to get to where the shooting degraded. That’s the goal — to put stress on the fundamentals, and when they hold up under strain, it’s most satisfying. Followed up with a 3-mile woods ramble, and I think I might just make it through the rest of the week…