156 HUNTING TRIPS 



places, where there are deep, wooded ra- 

 vines. 



Formerly the elk were plentiful all over 

 the plains, coming down into them in great 

 bands during the fall months and travers- 

 ing their entire extent. But the incoming 

 of hunters and cattle-men has driven them 

 off the ground as completely as the buffalo ; 

 unlike the latter, however, they are still 

 very common in the dense woods that cover 

 the Rocky Mountains and the other great 

 western chains. In the old days running 

 elk on horseback was a highly esteemed 

 form of plains sport; but now that it has 

 become a beast of the timber and the 

 craggy ground, instead of a beast of the 

 open, level prairie, it is followed almost 

 solely on foot and with the rifle. Its sense 

 of smell is very acute, and it has good eyes 

 and quick ears; and its wariness makes it 

 under ordinary circumstances very difficult 

 to approach. But it is subject to fits of 

 panic folly, and during their continuance 

 great numbers can be destroyed. A band 



