I ran across this a couple of years ago, lost track of it, and just found it again, what DID happen to the buffalo? (added)

Interesting argument that the buffalo hunters did real damage, but not the main cause of those numbers dying.

“When that management was removed, the bison critically overpopulated and damaged the vegetation. Then you had crowded, starving bison in a severely degraded range that couldn’t begin to support them. That meant that their immunity was gone, and epidemic could rage unchecked. The most fascinating thing is that tick fever and anthrax both seem to be native here. Bison had suffered from them for maybe thousands of years without ever being driven extinct by them. But once they were no longer managed, once their range was destroyed from neglect, then the weakened bison were wiped out by familiar diseases.”Dr. Sierra Stoneberg Holt

Added: Commenter left this link which has some more information