Books of Interest

[Two-Step]

I am interested in learning more about the history of the buffalo hunter and I found a couple of books that I think that I am interested in, but I wanted to get some opinions form others, who may have already read them. I would also like to get some recommendations from others, if they have any.

Buffalo Days: Stories from J. Wright Mooar by James Winford Hunt
Life of Billy Dixon by Olive K. Dixon
The Buffalo Hunters by Charles M. Robinson III and Robert K. DeArment
The Champion Buffalo Hunter: The Frontier Memoirs of Yellowstone Vic Smith by Jeanette Prodgers

[Ranch 13]

Those are all good books.
The Encylopedia of Buffalo Hunters is a good series of books as well.

[Tascosa Joe]

The Border and the Buffalo by Cook

[Grogan]

As mentioned, Buffalo Days: Stories from J. Wright Mooar by James Winford Hunt
is a great read.

Also see, In Search of the Buffalo-The Story of J. Wright Mooar by Charles G. Anderson.

These are both great reads!

[Two-Step]

Thanks a bunch and may you have a dozen fat children, plentiful crops, and healthy herds. 

[JimBob]

A couple of old standards on the era are-

The Great Buffalo Hunt by Wayne Gard

The Buffalo Hunters by Mari Sandoz

[Yellowhouse Sam]

The Border and the Buffalo by Cook

Thats my favorite.  I hope those that haven't buy Vol I&II of the Encylopedia of Buffalo Hunters cause they are saying Vol III won't be issued until all those are sold.  These are the last word in references to buffalo hunting and hunters.

[James Hunt]

Caution on the Buffalo Hunters by Mari Sandoz, caution on anything she writes, she is a good writer but she reference's little if anything and has been accused of outright fabrication. The worst is her book on Custer. She was a writer and lecturer but no historian.

[JimBob]

Caution on the Buffalo Hunters by Mari Sandoz, caution on anything she writes, she is a good writer but she reference's little if anything and has been accused of outright fabrication. The worst is her book on Custer. She was a writer and lecturer but no historian.

The same could be said of many of the books written about the west 60 years ago.

[James Hunt]

The same could be said of many of the books written about the west 60 years ago.

I'm not sure I'd concur with that statement (in part because I was alive 60 years ago), we are fortunate to have many primary resources from the period, great examples are Huntington's books Good Men and Salty Cusses and Both Feet in the Stirrups  or Teddy Blue Abbot and We Pointed Them North, and there are many great secondary sources, Ward's effort "The cowboy at work" is a virtual how to manual that has stood the test of time. Many others.

The other books listed above are solid works, although some of the statements made by elderly men with failing memories need to be questioned.

You just have to be careful, Stuart Lake is not trustworthy, and Mari Sandoz has fallen nearly into his class. You just have to consider how they sourced or researched their material and how it compares to other works then and since. More current efforts fail also, great example is Pointer's In Search of Butch Cassidy which appears well documented yet fails when compared to the volume of work done by others.

[JimBob]

Folks now ought to appreciate the fact that many of those books are available as reprints.60 years ago you couldn't find many of those titles outside of used book shops.As good as Huntington's  books were they had a limited circulation and chances are if you didn't take the Western Livestock Reporter you never heard of him at the time.

[James Hunt]

Folks now ought to appreciate the fact that many of those books are available as reprints.60 years ago you couldn't find many of those titles outside of used book shops.As good as Huntington's  books were they had a limited circulation and chances are if you didn't take the Western Livestock Reporter you never heard of him at the time.

Hmmmmm, you know of the Agri News - you are better read than most.

[JimBob]

Hmmmmm, you know of the Agri News - you are better read than most.

LOL Never read that one,read Prairie Farmer down at Grandads and a couple others I don't remember the name of.That was before TV and only got two stations on the radidio down on the farm in the early 50s.

[James Hunt]

LOL Never read that one,read Prairie Farmer down at Grandads and a couple others I don't remember the name of.That was before TV and only got two stations on the radidio down on the farm in the early 50s.

I believe the Agri News is still published out of Billings Montana and at one time, maybe still, the editor was Linda Grosskopf. She herself was a colorful writer, she was also Bill Huntington's great grand-duaghter. A few years ago these wonderful books were advertised in that  paper. Contacting either the paper or Ms. Grosskopf may result in finding out if they are still available. It would be wonderful if they still were out there, Bill was a cowboy in Wyoming at the time the Wild Bunch were still riding through the territory. He even has a great story of being confronted by a sheriff after showing up in town on a horse used in a robbery by Butch Cassidy. Ms. Grosskopf recalls him as a child writing down his stories. He wrote his experiences as the words came out of his mouth, and they are just great, great stories. Agri News serialized them in a column for quite a while.

If you want to get a feel for a cowboy, bronc rider, teamster, and small stockman on the northern plains at the turn of the 19th century I highly recommend these books.

[JimBob]

If you want to get a feel for a cowboy, bronc rider, teamster, and small stockman on the northern plains at the turn of the 19th century I highly recommend these books.

I just checked Alibris,they list two copies of Salty Cusses,one is $100 and the other was autographed it was $120.Wish someone would reprint these at an affordable price.

[James Hunt]

I just checked Alibris,they list two copies of Salty Cusses,one is $100 and the other was autographed it was $120.Wish someone would reprint these at an affordable price.

Holy smokes, I just moved my copies into the gun safe.

[Skyrider]

You mean it is sort of like "Billy The Kid" being a left handed gun fighter!!! Well HOLLYWOOD does it's thing and most people jump on the bandwagon without giving it a second thought I suppose. Just like gunfighters of the Old West and the "Gunfights" they were in on the streets of Dodge City. Well the only person that did such a thing was James Arness in Gun Smoke. Those gunfights started 3 blocks away and ofter were just back shootings with a shotgun.

[Okefinokee Outlaw]

Do any of the books actually show a photo of a buffalo hunter shooting on cross sticks?