190 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



Elk are sooner killed off than any other game 

 save buffalo, but this is due to their size and 

 the nature of the ground they frequent rather 

 than to their lack of shyness. They like open 

 woodland, or mountainous park country, or hills 

 riven by timber coulies ; and such ground is 

 the most favorable to the hunter, and the most 

 attractive in which to hunt. On the other 

 hand moose, for instance, live in such dense 

 cover that it is very difficult to get at them ; 

 when elk are driven by incessant persecution 

 to take refuge in similar fastnesses they be- 

 come almost as hard to kill. In fact, in this 

 respect the elk stands to the moose much as 

 the blacktail stands to the whitetail. The 

 moose and whitetail are somewhat warier 

 than the elk and blacktail ; but it is the nature 

 of the ground which they inhabit that tells 

 most in their favor. On the other hand, as 

 compared to the blacktail, it is only the elk's 

 size which puts it at a disadvantage in the 

 struggle for life when the rifle-bearing hunter 

 appears on the scene. It is quite as shy and 

 difficult to approach as the deer ; but its bulk 

 renders it much more eagerly hunted, more 

 readily seen, and more easily hit. Occa- 

 sionally elk suffer from fits of stupid tameness 

 or equally stupid panic ; but the same is true 

 of blacktail. In two or three instances, I 

 have seen elk show silly ignorance of danger ; 

 but half a dozen times I have known black- 

 tail behave with an even greater degree of 

 stupid familiarity. 



There is another point in which the wapiti 

 and blacktail agree in contrast to the moose 

 and whitetail. Both the latter delight in 



