In an 1865 letter to Army Headquarters, Alfred Sully, commander of the Northwest Indian Expedition, described his travels from their temporary encampment at Devils Lake looking for renegade Dakota Sioux. During his foray, Sully and his men encountered a large group of Metis/half-breeds and his description of the meeting provides interesting information regarding how the Metis viewed their right to hunt and their right to cross the European-created “medicine line” between Canada and the United States.
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Sully mentions that after three days of travel west, only seeing a few individual Indians moving north (probably towards Turtle Mountain), they finally found tracks that they were certain were from a large group of Santee and Yanktonai Dakota. They followed the trail to the southeast, but due to a heavy rainstorm, they lost the trail somewhere between the James and Missouri Rivers. 

The soldiers eventually came upon a heavy trail of Red River cart tracks, coming from the north and going toward the Missouri. Thinking that the Metis might be a party going to trade with the Dakota, Sully sent 300 men to follow the trail. After several days, the soldiers found a huge encampment of 1,500 carts arranged in a large corral. The Metis were busy drying buffalo meat from a successful hunt and the party contained hundreds of men, women, and children, along with a resident priest and a French nobleman from Paris who had joined the hunt for an adventure. The soldiers made a show of force and searched the camp, but could find nothing contraband that could be traded to the Dakota.  
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In questioning the Metis, Sully’s men discovered that this party was from the British Possessions and had been out about two months hunting. They were asked if they had seen the American President's order about trading with the Dakota, but the hunters assured that their only purpose was to hunt so they could feed themselves. Sully spoke to the priest and head men and informed them that it was illegal to trade ammunition to the Dakota, and while they admitted that some people were trading and supplying the Dakota, they were not.  

Sully then told the Metis that they were no longer to be allowed to come across the border and were to hereafter stay in Canada, but the Metis answered that they knew and recognized no line or frontier. They stated that the half-breeds on the north and on the south of the line were all one family; they were intermarried, and that their kin lived on both sides of the line, spoke the same language, and paid no taxes because they were Indians. They informed Sully that they did not recognize the white man’s laws and that each colony and camp made their own laws, appointed their own chiefs, councilors, and police. They then handed Sully a written copy of their laws, among which he reported seeing a fine of £5 to sell ammunition to hostile Indians. The Metis then went on to explain to Sully that if they could not hunt in Dakota Territory that they would starve. They further explained that the half-breeds living in Dakota Territory also come north to hunt and trap for furs.

The Metis did inform Sully about what they knew about the Dakota movements and they also assured him that there were no hostiles east of Devil's Lake. The Santee they knew were still in the British possessions, including Chiefs Sleepy Eye and White Cloud, who were at Turtle Mountain.
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Sully also reported that his men had found a camp of half-breeds near the west end of Devil’s Lake which included twelve men with their families. They were from Pembina.  Sully’s men searched their camp, but found nothing. Although they seemed innocent, Sully wondered if they were secretly in league with the Dakota, as he couldn’t believe that such a small hunting party would dare venture out so far from home with their families and not be molested by hostile Indians.  Sully then placed the camp under guard for fear that they might inform the Dakota that the soldiers were looking for them.

The manner in which a person could hunt buffalo from horseback would seem impossible. All the action - shooting, chasing the herd, and having to reload - making it a daunting task at the very least.  The half-breed Ojibwe of the Turtle Mountains and Pembina regions were experts at hunting from horseback. and they mastered the art of doing it using the primitive flint lock guns available to them.  An 1860 description of how it was done is quite impressive:

"The gun preferred by the half-breeds is the flint lock single barrel shot gun of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Few of them will use the cap gun from the loss of time in putting on the cap. In loading [their flint locks] they pour powder from the horn which is secured around the neck into the partially closed hand, then into the barrel, throwing away the surplus; the ball which is previously put in the mouth is then put in the barrel, after shaking down the powder, and the ball is then shaken down, and gathers powder enough from being wet [with spit] to keep it in the barrel. In the meantime the horse has been pursuing a second buffalo, and as soon as he rides up, he lowers his gun and fires the gun at the same instant. There is no capping of the gun, and no use of the ramrod.  All of the Indians prefer the flint lock..."

In an attempt to stop reinforcements and supplies coming from the US side of the border to aid the Metis during the 1885 resistance, the government employed a contingent of Metis “scouts” to act as an Indigenous police force who could work with the Metis population better than non-Indigenous Canadian soldiers could. The scout force was drawn from among the men at Wood Mountain, Willow Bunch, and Moosejaw.

They were stationed between the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the United States frontier, principally in the vicinity of Willow Bunch and Wood Mountain, for the purpose of watching the boundary, as it was feared that Metis and Indians from Turtle Mountain in Dakota might attempt to send men to support the rebels.

The scouts were given specific orders as follow:

No. 1. To detain and closely examine all per sons coming from the American frontier. Arms, ammunition and explosives to be special objects of search in all baggage. All conveyances to be thoroughly searched.

No. 2. Any person, other than a known settler on Canadian soil, found carrying or found in possession of arms and ammunition or explosives to be charged under 31 Vic., Chap. 15, the information being sworn on just grounds of suspicion that the same are dangerous to the public peace.

No. 3. Suspicious characters from across the border to be charged with evasion of the customs duties, provided they have any property with them to sustain the charge. All persons who fail to give a satisfactory account of themselves are to be charged under the Vagrant Act.

No. 4. All half-breeds carrying arms and ammunition to be arrested and charged under 31 Vic., Chap. 15.

No. 5. The utmost vigilance must be exercised to prevent any crossing the border within the scouts’ limits without being subjected to inquiry.

No. 6. No such person having come into Canada is to be allowed to re-cross the border if it can be prevented. 

The Metis scouts who were employed with upholding this order included:
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Napoléon Lafournaise
Bernard Hamelin
Abraham Beauchamp
Pierre Brière
Zacharie Chartrand
François Boxer
Johnny Chartrand
Jérôme Champagne
William Houle
Louis Larocque
W. John McGillis
Hylaise Rainville
Antoine Gosselin
Joseph Gosselin
Alphonse Langer
François Lafournaise
William Berston
Louis Hamelin
Joseph Hamelin
Joseph Alaire
Alexander Houle
Théophile McGillis
Alexandre Gosselin, Sr.
André Beaudry
Jonas Hamelin Sr.
Napoléon McGillis
J.-Bte. Lafournaise
Baptiste Adams
Jérémie Adams
Narcisse Lacerte Jr.
Jonas Hamelin Jr.
Louis Decoteau
Joseph Lapointe
Andrée Gariépy
Joseph Ouelette
Elzéar Bottineau
Pierre Alary
J.-Bte. Amyot
Joseph Short
François Bottineau
Alexandre Gosselin Sr.
Jean Louis Légaré