The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

 

Great Buck Deer Proves Once More Buffalo Bill's Prowess as Huntsman

Carcass Is Sent to City as Souvenir of Hunting Expedition.

Party Bags Other Game In the Mountains of Wyoming.

A great buck deer hangs on exhibition in the butcher shop of Otto Shatz, 1201 Welton street, as evidence that the eye of Col. W. F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) still is keen and sure, that his hand trembles not when his muscles send the rifle to his shoulder. For the great deer is one of the results of a hunting trip taken by Buffalo Bill and his party thirty miles above his ranch near Cody, Wyo. The deer was sent by Col. Cody to H. H. Tammen and F. G. Bonfils as a Thanksgiving gift.

Following his return from South Dakota where he took part in the reproduction of the history of the War of the Messiah, the Battle of Summit Springs and the Battle of the Warbonnet, Col. Cody decided that he needed a "rest." But rest to this man of the plains means a different thing from what rest means to the ordinary man. No sitting in an arm chair and watching the sunset for Buffalo Bill. Not yet.

GUIDES WARN HIM OF MOUNTAIN DANGERS.

He hied him to Cody, where he superintended the harvesting of a great crop of oats, and then, in spite of the fact that the snow lay so heavy in the hills that ordinary hunters were afraid to leave town, Buffalo Bill and his old comrade, John Reckless Davis, began preparations for a deer hunt. There gathered around the two plainsmen the guides and others who were resting in town, and warned them of the snows out yonder. But Buffalo Bill and his hunting partner laughed.

"Snow?" Asked Buffalo Bill. "What of it? Why, I'm going to take my daughter with me."

And so he did. With twenty-one horses to carry supplies, a cook outfit, and a horse wrangler, Col. Cody, his son-in-law, F. H. Garlow, Mrs. Garlow and Reckless Davis started for the hills. That was two weeks ago — and one of the results of the hunt now hangs in Shatz's market.

OTHER ANIMALS KILLED BY PARTY.

But that is only a small part of the game. The party, with Buffalo Bill guiding it to the haunts of game, killed three elk, and five deer. Most of the animals fell as the result of bullets from the sure-shooting rifle of Buffalo Bill. There was one, however, a buck deer, which owed its death to Mrs. Garlow.

Running at full speed, it shot through the forest, three hundred yards in front of the woman. Quickly she raised her rifle. There was a puff of smoke, a report — the deer had fallen dead at the first crack.

And the hunt, although already wonderfully successful, has not ended yet. Buffalo Bill says that he intends to [...?] out until he feels good and rested [...?] that he'll bring down more deer [...?] elk before he comes home.

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The big red buck deer shot by Col. William F. Cody, thirty miles from his ranch near Cody, Wyo., and sent to Denver friends as a Thanksgiving present. The size of the animal is shown in comparison with Otto Shatz, who is standing beside it, and at whose market, 1201 Welton street, the deer is being exhibited.

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Banner image: Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming, U.S.A.; Original Buffalo Bill Museum Collection, P.69.118