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CHAPTEE X. 



ELK. 



(Cervus Strongyloceros.) 



OF all American game the elk is justly entitled to stand 

 first in the estimation of the sportsman. 



His size, splendid form, noble presence, and magni- 

 ficent antlers, excite the most hopeful enthusiasm in the 

 breast of the sportsman, while his quickness of eye, keen- 

 ness of ear, and wonderful delicacy of scent, render his 

 successful pursuit a feat to test the skill of the hunter. 

 The average elk will weigh about 500 pounds. I was 

 some years since presented by a friend with a pair 

 of antlers of a noble buck of his own killing, which he 

 said weighed as he fell 800 pounds. I can readily 

 believe it, since the antlers attached only to the frontal 

 bone weighed of themselves sixty-one pounds. 



The range of the elk seems originally to have been 

 commensurate with the territory of the United States, 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Michigan to 

 (Florida, T was going to say, having no evidence of an elk 

 ever having been seen in that State, I will substitute) 

 Texas. They are now found on the plains, in greater or 

 less numbers, from the British line on the north, to the 

 Eed Eiver on the south, from the Missouri on the east, 

 far beyond the plains through the Eocky Mountains to 

 the Pacific coast. 



They are not prolific, and, though cautious and difficult 

 to approach by the novice, are easily killed by the skilled 

 hunter. Moreover, they have many foolish traits, which 

 oftentimes puts it in the power of a hunter to kill a great 

 many at one time ; and, as I have said in the same case 



