The Last Hunt

Saw The Last Hunt on the Teevee.  It's about buffalo hunters near the end of the buffalo era.  And indian fighter enlists the partnership of a season buff hunter that is about sick of the killing.  The indian fighter is quick to shoot a man in cold blood, too.  So, bingo, plot conflict.

They hunt with very large/long lever action rifles with tang mounted peep sights.  Not Sharps, Winchester pattern.  Dunno the model, as this 1956 movie is not in the internet movie firearms database.  The timing of the movie would make them Winchester 1876 models perhaps.  If I had to guess the caliber, they looked like .45-70.  Though they could have been .50-95 or summat, and that 1876 model was chambered in 45-75 WCF, .40-60, .45-60 and .50-95.  Hard to tell which on the little screen.

Before they set out to hunt they pack up 100 pounds of lead.  They do all their own handloading, and, presumably, reloading.  All while smoking by the campfire.  Phew!  The 'presses' are small single pliers-like doohickeys for seating the bullet, or sizing same.

The buffalo herds are getting smaller by 1880, but they can still shoot a 'stand'.  This is where you shoot the alpha bull.  If he drops, and doesn't panic or run, the rest of the herd won't go anywhere, and you can nibble away at the outside of the group, working in, and get most all of them.  Convenient for your skinners.  The skins fetched 2 dollars, and the tongue got you 50 cents.  The rest was wasted except for some meat to feed the hunters themselves.  A bit later, in history, there would be a market for the bones that littered the prairie, to be used for fertilizer.

The hunters made all one shot drops.  I don't know how they simulated this in the movie.  Maybe they actually killed off a couple small herds for the cameras.  There was no "no animals were harmed in the making of this flicker show" disclaimer in the credits that I saw.  American Bison must have been pretty delicate if reliable one shot drops were possible.  Not like the reputation of African Cape Buffalo.  The mean character even kills a few with a single action revolver.