Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What killed the buffalo?

You're still not helping.

Interesting thread.

I’ve always read that the US government waged a war on bison in order to starve out the Indian’s. Rather they did that after the herds were severely reduced due to disease from domestic cattle, overgrazing by cattle, ranchers shooting them on site, Native Americans and whites having access to horses, barbed wire fencing, more modern weapons, a rapidly growing and westward population, or railways.

I have no idea what was the main factor or factors. I’m sure that it all played a part.

Given the need for wide open spaces to graze and inability to retreat to cover in the way that elk can along with western expansion and technology it’s no surprise that there days were numbered.

I dont know what happened in texas, I said the geograpic area I'm talking about, but wouldn't this disease come north?
I am just saying I have never read anything, whatsoever about it from any primary sources, there is alot written about the disease in humans.
I and others think the estmates were to high to begin with.
Have bones been studied for disease?

I didn't check your math but I don't see why the buffalo could not have been killed off by hunters. Many other large animals have been killed nearly to extinction by unregulated hunting. Examples include the grizzly bear in North America, tigers in India, and elephants and lions in Africa. Elk and buffalo were killed to extinction east of the Mississippi.

Then there is this^^^ this was a thing, the slaughter was real. There were no cattle grazing north of the 49th during the dwindling of the herds.

How did this thread even start? By assuming that humans couldn't destroy something? Say that out loud. Oh no, humans could never destroy that! Humans can destroy anything and they totally killed all the buffalo. Only reason we haven't killed ourselves is because God doesn't want us to, yet.

Sure I am. You just went through an arithmetic problem. I checked your numbers for you.

They're off.

Happy camper?

So, what got the Passenger Pigeon? Likely even greater numbers.

Yeah.
This is what I meant in my first post when I said alot can be learned about the near extinction of the Buffalo herds and other game animals. It isn't any stretch when I say I and others in my part of the world have seen populations of Elk and Moose dwindle 75% in 20 years, and this is a so-called "managed resource" people are mistified as to what it could be lol. We know who and what the reasons are, its ridiculous.

Jesus

Exactly.

Population expansion and the environmental changes that came with it. For some animals clearing out massive old growth pine forest was a huge benefit whitetail deer in MI for instance. For most critters it was a negative. Especially for the ones that require a specific niche environment or large tracts of land.

And the Rocky Mountain Locust?

99.9% of species that have lived on this planet have gone extinct. Maybe a better question is why NOT the bison?

WTF are you on???

If you’ve ever seen a buffalo on the prairie, they stick out enough to ensure their demise. Not hard to figure out.

Indians and settlers alike probably committing a good amount of wanton waste with no refrigeration and sub par tools.

Most probably just had the back straps cut out if that.

Then throw in the market hunters.

What’d he have against the buffs?

One example.

Much to the chagrin of the anti-hunters, it was disease that was the main cause of the demise of the buffalo.

Brucellosis was probably a partial factor

TRex.

Once the Indians figured out how to saddle them, it was all over.