SHOOTING FROM HORSEBACK

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..."

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Citation: 
Arbor, A. (1959). Lewis Henry Morgan: The Indian journals, 1859-62. Courier Corporation.