The Last Hunt

by Milton Lott

This is a novel about the buffalo hunters and of the herds they wiped out. Sandy MacKenzie was one of them. For him killing buffalo was a living. He respected the shaggy beasts and felt their annihilation as a loss to the country. It wasn't easy for him, but he could forge another, a better life. But for his shooting partner, Charlie Gilson, massacring buffalo meant self-respect. Killing was a fever. Even in the good days, when they were milling herds to shoot down every day, Charlie and Sandy fought about their work, the land they ranged, and Charlie's Indian woman. After the buffalo thinned out, the tension heightened, and a showdown was bound to come

Genres: Westerns, Literature, Fiction

360 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

Reviews

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I hope that no one makes the mistake of classing this book as a ‘Western.’ It is about as far removed from the run-of-the-mill book of that variety as it is possible to get.” – W.R. Burnett, The New York Times
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The Last Hunt (1954) was Milton Lott’s (1916-1996) debut novel. Although he may have written more, only two other novels were published: Dance Back the Buffalo (1959) and Backtrack (1960). Between them the two books have ten ratings and one review on Goodreads. Needless to say, Lott is remembered, if remembered at all, for The Last Hunt, a book that was nominated for both a Pulitzer and a National Book Award.

And because of that one book, Lott goes on my shelf as a mostly forgotten “writer who deserves to be remembered.”

It is the story of four buffalo hunters that is set in northwestern Montana in 1882-1885. It takes place in Montana because at that late date the buffalo had disappeared in the southwest and on the Great Plains, decimated by the hunters who killed them for their hides, leaving the carcasses to rot and be consumed by scavengers.

It was an ugly business that not only wiped out the herds but also transformed the lives of the native tribes who were heavily dependent on them for their livelihoods, forcing them against their will to live out their days on government reservations.

The Last Hunt is a landmark novel about that slaughter and the near extinction of the great herds.

It is a slow burn that may not satisfy readers who require a lot of action in their “Westerns.” To be sure, there is action in The Last Hunt, but at first Lott uses flashbacks to flesh out his four main characters and even after that the story is very much character driven.

I don’t know if Lott ever wrote poetry or painted landscapes, but if not, he nevertheless possessed the soul of a poet and the eye of a painter. Since Lott grew up in the Snake Valley in Idaho, he was intimately acquainted with the setting of his novel and his lyrical descriptions allow one to picture the valleys, badlands, and mountains of Montana, even if one has never been there.

I first read this book sometime in the ‘80’s and I had forgotten many of the details of the story, but the ending, which occurs during the last hunt, was seared in my brain and it is something that is still a vivid memory all these years later. At some point after that, I saw the 1957 film that was based on the book, which further locked the ending into my memory.

I have read only one other novel that can compete with The Last Hunt. It is Butcher’s Crossing, the only Western written by John Williams. In its plot, characterizations, and psychological impact, it reminds me of The Last Hunt.

What W.R. Burnett wrote about The Last Hunt is also true of Butcher’s Crossing. Both are examples of historical fiction that happen to be set in the West. And I have to admit that it is a toss-up for me as to which is the better book.

If you are interested you can read my review of Butcher’s Crossing here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

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I decided to reread The Last Hunt after my Goodreads friend Rich mentioned the book – and the movie – in a discussion we were having about one of our favorite subjects – Western film and fiction.

Thank you, Rich, for the reminder.

[Dave Marsland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Milton Lott’s debut novel The Last Hunt very nearly won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was selected the winner by the Pulitzer Jury, against a strong field including The Dollmaker (Harriette Simpson Arnow) and The Fable (William Faulkner), only to be overruled by the Pulitzer Board who felt it was about time William Faulkner was rewarded for his services to literature. So Old Bill walked away with the prize and The Last Hunt became a forgotten novel. Which is a real shame because it’s fantastic.

The book follows Sandy McKenzie and Charley Gilson, two wildly different characters, as they hunt buffalo in Montana. It’s a harsh, savage environment. Charley becomes obsessed with killing, whilst Sandy acknowledges that the slaughter of the buffalo takes away American Natives ability to feed themselves. It’s the appearance of a white buffalo that is pivotal and changes everything.
Set around the time the buffalo faced extinction, the novel captures a decisive moment in the history of America and examines its impact to nature and the environment. As the buffalo become non existent Sandy and Charley take very different paths, and it’s the psychology of the breakdown of their relationship that is at the heart of the novel.
The descriptions of the countryside are dazzling and unforgettable, and an exhaustive knowledge of buffalo hunting make the novel very realistic. It may start off a little slowly, but it’s wonderfully written, it has numerous twists and turns, and it tackles ugly issues.
The Last Hunt deserves to be more well-read because it’s one of the great novels of the American West.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This seemingly little-known novel of the American West was made into a 1957 film of the same title, a film I like a great deal. What is also little known is the fact that this novel was chosen by the Pulitzer Prize jury as the prizewinner in fiction in 1955, but the governing board overruled the judges because they felt that William Faulkner was overdue for the prize. Thus the 1955 prize went to Faulkner for A Fable, one of his lesser works, instead of the jury's choice of The Last Hunt. On learning this tidbit of history, I was incensed, for though I had come to Lott's novel under the impression that it was one of thousands of Western potboilers of the period, I learned quickly in reading that it was a major work of American literature, one to stand with A.B. Guthrie's The Big Sky, his Pulitzer-awarded The Way West, and Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove. Essentially the tale of four men engaged in the rugged and gruesome work of buffalo hunting, The Last Hunt provides not merely a story but a detailed and poetic view of the natural world and a deep psychological understanding of the men at its center. It is a harsh yet sometimes tender novel, filled with riches of nuance and color. I think it is one of the great twentieth-century American novels and I am astounded that I had never heard of it until a few months ago. I give it the highest recommendation.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fine novel of the last days of the slaughtering of the buffalo herds. Two men, Sandy McKenzie and Charlie Gilson, team up to hunt buffalo for the hides(used for leather). Gilson is an obsessed gunman who loves killing and hates Indians. McKenzie is a quite, gentle man who had tried to walk away from the hunt until a buffalo stampede had wiped out his small cattle herd.

Lott wove in the details of camp life, the loneliness, the skinning, the brutality, the interactions with people they encounter, with flashback bits that made the two the men they are today, all without impeding the flow of the novel.

Things went fine until four Indians stole some horses. Charlie hunts them down, shooting all four(two of them women) with his buffalo gun. Entering their camp, Charlie learns he only creased one of the women, a young mother with a small baby. They become his "property." And Sandy is not happy with the way he treats her.

You know somewhere down the line...

Made into a film starring Robert Taylor(as Charlie) and Stewart Grainger(as Sandy).

[Chris Barraclough · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up a tatty paperback copy of this book on a market stall years ago and promptly forgot it. I'd have read it sooner if I'd known how amazing it is! I'd seen the movie based on it and thought that was ok, but the novel by far transcends it. It is an intelligent story of buffalo hunters of the plains, struggling as the buffalo are rapidly disappearing. Sandy and Charley are the main characters - very different men reacting in different ways to the inevitable loss of their lifestyle. I wont say any more as I don't want to spoil the reading experience for anyone who wishes to read the story. If you do, give it a go - you wont be disappointed!

[Melvin Litton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a large confident beast the story moves somewhat awkwardly at its own pace, with immense detail of character and terrain. Lott has his own style and voice that steadily draws you in, and a rare fidelity to people and place that rings true. One of the most keenly written Westerns you'll ever find, well worth seeking out and taking the time to read.

[Wherefore Art Thou · Rating 4 out of 5]

While meandering, Lott describes the steep and rapid decline of the buffalo, and with it, the natives that had centered the herds in their culture, with remarkable clarity.

The efficiency by which the buffalo hunters decimated the buffalo herds is astonishing, and well captured here, along with the kind of people that might do such a thing - and how they could be brought to salvation in this too-late realization of the wake of their destruction. I learned what I was getting into quickly - when Lott describes the buffalo calf, just being born, losing its mother, imprinting on Charley, and even after being shot, continues to strive forward, desperate for a mother figure. Gruesome scene.

He captures the lawlessness of society that would allow men, savages themselves, to shoot one another, entertain prostitution, genocide natives, yet as soon as one of the natives steals a horse, out come the guns to enforce the law of the land, death penalty of course. Heartbreaking as the pride of the tribes are disintegrated by forces well beyond their control.

Love that duality of man - that two men of the same profession, Sandy and Charley, could diverge from one another so profoundly while working alongside each other and seeing the same things. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Sandy is presumed dead, and then reappears to offer forgiveness later

Not without flaws, but I think it did everything it needed to well.

Also, very dank and dark ending.

I’ll have to read Butcher’s Crossing and see how I feel about the two works.