CHARLES M. RUSSELL

Wild Man’s Meat, 1899. Charles M. Russell.
Pencil, watercolor, and gouache on paper, 21 × 30 inches. Sid Richardson Museum.

There was nothing sportsmanlike or elevated about the chase in the buffalo hunt and Russell made no concessions to delicacy. These buffalo are the real thing. Terrified calves, cows and bulls jam together, saliva streaming from their mouths, tongues lolling as they run for life. To give himself a better chance at the meat, the American Indian hunter would often crowd the cow into a calf to slow it down, though during any extended run the cows would outdistance the bulls leaving the calves far behind, prey to American Indian boys who honed their hunting skills on them.