Calculations based on the range-use efficiency of livestock in the early twentieth-century southern plains suggest that the nineteenth-century Comanchería could support approximately seven million bison. These vast herds thrived on Comanchería’s dense and nourishing shortgrasses, but they also faced severe hazards: wolves killed huge numbers of calves, grass fires annihilated entire herds, and droves of buffalo drowned attempting to cross frozen rivers in winter.
