The two young hunters laid flat on their stomachs as they peered through clumps of grass at a large herd of bison. Carefully they selected their quarry, took aim and fired.
Two of the massive beasts went down immediately as the teenagers scrambled to their feet and rushed toward the confused buffalo, firing as they ran. Three more went down before the rest of the herd took off in a cloud of dust.
The hunters were Elliott (nicknamed Ellie) and his cousin John, who along with six other “young guns” were hunting in northern Texas in 1877. Ellie was the 16-year-old younger brother of Theodore Roosevelt and the least experienced of the group. They’d set up their small camp in a glade close by several other buffalo-hunting camps, all of which were very competitive. Each camp felt it had exclusive rights to a range if they’d found it first. This led to conflicts between the different hunting parties, and Ellie often got himself and the rest of his group into trouble.
That night Ellie and John were walking back to camp when they heard a distant rumbling. It sounded like far-off thunder, but the sky was clear. Curious, the two youths climbed to the top of a small rise to see what it was. Before reaching the top, they were met with a sight that both shocked and horrified them. As far as the eye could see in every direction, the plains were black with bison—and they were stampeding right at them. A huge cloud of dust billowed up from the prairie as the massive herd bore down on the terrified hunters.
As the herd rushed along, other individual bison panicked and joined the massive tidal wave of beasts. As the front line of the herd closed to within a quarter-of-a-mile, the two men searched desperately for some type of cover, but there was nothing.
The line now stretched for about a mile, blocking out the horizon. The thunderous sound grew louder and the ground shook violently as the distance between the men and beasts quickly vanished.
Ellie and John would be trampled if they didn’t do something fast. Their only hope, they decided, was to split the herd by firing at the center of the fast-approaching line. They waited until the last minute, John kneeling and Ellie standing, then began to rapid-fire their heavy breach-loading rifles, while shouting at the same time.
The animals were almost on them when one bison fell, then another and another. Gradually a wedge-shaped opening appeared in front of the line as the shaggy beasts thundered by on both sides. It must have been like standing on a railroad track as two trains passed on each side. The men swayed in the draft and at one point they could have touched the stampeding bison with outstretched arms.
The herd seemed endless as the men choked on the dust, trying not to move. Before long the space between the two divisions grew wider as the animals rumbled toward the horizon behind the men. Apparently two other hunters some five miles away had caused the stampede when they fired at some buffalo.
As Ellie and John recovered and regained their composure, they noticed that five bison had been killed in the process. Certainly not a recommended way to hunt buffalo.
Ellie was as keen a horseback rider and hunter as his older brother Teddy. Sadly, he would become an alcoholic and attempted suicide by jumping out of a window at 34. He survived the jump, but died later of a seizure. Consequently, he would never see his brother become President.
This book is the third in Seerey-Lester’s “Legends” series. The Legendary Hunts of Theodore Roosevelt, published by Sporting Classics, features over 60 chapters devoted to TR’s most spectacular hunts on three continents.
Complementing Seerey-Lester’s meticulously researched text are some 150 paintings and sketches, which altogether provide a unique glimpse into the life of the former president and his passion for wildlife and adventure.
You will share in TR’s excitement and frustration as a rancher in the Badlands of the Dakotas; of hunting grizzlies in buckskin and moccasins; of several harrowing incidents that set the stage for TR’s illustrious life as one of the world’s foremost adventurers. Shop Now
