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Poor Wyoming hunts by famed Brit in 1890s topic of history talk
3 hrs ago



A lackluster Wyoming trip by a famous British hunter and the resulting fallout will be discussed by Buffalo Bill Museum Curator Jeremy Johnston at the next Draper Natural History Museum Lunchtime Expedition in Cody, Wyoming.

The title of the March 3 talk is "The Wildlife Wastelands of Wyoming: Renowned African Hunter Courteney Selous’ Mediocre Safari through the Absaroka Mountains." Johnston's talk will begin at noon and can be attended virtually at https://us02web.zoom.us/webina...If1XsHQziBCdn90qa5sA.

In 1897, famed British sport hunter Frederic Courteney Selous, accompanied by his wife and Sheridan rancher William Moncreiffe, hunted the headwaters of the South Fork of the Shoshone River. Despite the dismal hunting trek on the South Fork, he returned the following year to the North Fork.

Selous was no ordinary hunter. Many British citizens considered him the perfect model of a British explorer and hunter, one who expanded the imperialistic claims of the British Empire in Southern Africa. After years of hunting in Africa, Selous wished to experience the rugged wild West he read about as a boy.


While Selous enjoyed fishing the South Fork of the Shoshone, the lack of big game stemming from the great slaughter by market hunters and local settlers ignoring the state’s game regulations disheartened him. He expressed his disappointment in his book "Sport and Travel East and West" and to Theodore Roosevelt.


Selous’s negative review of the region’s hunting motivated George W. T. Beck, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, and others to advocate for more protection of big game animals through the stricter enforcement of game laws. Also, in response to Selous’s critical review, Buffalo Bill took steps to promote the region’s hunting opportunities through his writings and the staging of celebrity hunting trips, rebranding the headwaters of the Shoshone River as prime wildlife habitat.