Originally Posted by OldHat
Originally Posted by renegade50
Originally Posted by Hastings
Originally Posted by OldHat
The lose of the Bison is one of the saddest stories in American history.
[Linked Image from perc.org]
What do you reckon killed all those bison?

Falling and rolling block rifles.

Stories say they could pick them off one by one and hardly scare the herd. The animals could defend against wolves bears and Indians, but were helpless against long range weapons. What a time to be alive!

A herd of thirty to sixty million could hardly be killed out by human predation even with modern rifles considering the harvest could hardly have been more than a million a year. And that is a generous estimate on the kill. Need to look for another cause. There are plenty of accounts of dead bison covering the landscape. Indians died of introduced European disease. Bison overpopulated. Domestic cattle were introduced and driven into bison territory. Most likely cause was something like Texas tick fever or anthrax. Hunters couldn't have very well killed more than the natural reproduction.

Patriotism (and religion) is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Jesus: "Take heed that no man deceive you."