The Elk of the Pacific Coast 187 



attempt to alone pack out the finest horns in the 

 woods, and where you might never be able to find 

 them again if you left them to go for help. Im- 

 mense areas of such ground yet remain that for 

 ages will remain the nursery of the elk ; but on 

 the great plains and lower slopes of California, as 

 well as in the more open woods of the Coast 

 Range and the beautiful upper slopes of most of 

 the Cascades, he is gone probably forever. For, 

 while easily tamed and restored in a park, there 

 will always be too much shooting on these 

 grounds to suit him, with too many hunters 

 who will evade the law often enough to make it 

 a little too human for the taste of this fastidious 

 deer. 



Nothing can be done with the elk by fire hunt- 

 ing, because he moves so little at night, and he 

 cares so little for salt on this coast that a salt 

 lick is of no use. Driving with hounds, as with 

 deer, is quite out of the question, so that the 

 hunting is narrowed down to still-hunting. Deer 

 care little for dogs, but have a mortal fear of the 

 sly step of man, and the elk has even greater 

 fear. It would be strange, therefore, if still-hunt- 

 ing, which so quickly changes the habits of the 

 deer and even the antelope, should not have the 

 same effect on the elk. Deer soon learn to feed 

 entirely by night where it is too dangerous by 

 day, as in a vineyard or alfalfa patch, and even 



