ELK. 171 



A herd being discovered, the hunters make a sur- 

 round, and dash upon the frightened beasts, which, 

 confused by the sudden onslaught, and having no leader, 

 crowd together. Eunning up behind the elk, the hunter 

 sets the crotch of his pole against the hind leg, just above 

 the knee ; a sharp push severs the hamstring. The 

 other leg is served in the same way. So quick and 

 noiseless is this work, that it is said not to be unusual 

 for each hunter to secure two or three victims before the 

 herd finally breaks away. 



Although the elk generally shows himself possessed 

 of the instinct of self-preservation to a degree which 

 makes him a fair match for any sportsman, he sometimes 

 becomes so paralysed with fear as to be apparently unable 

 to move. At other times he seems entirely to lose; his 

 senses, and will rush into a snow-drift, or over a precipice 

 to certain death, under circumstances of danger from 

 which a deer or an antelope would easily extricate himself. 



A pot-hunter came one day, not far from Fort Fred 

 Steele, upon a band of twenty-eight elk, feeding in a 

 canon, the sides and upper end of which were perpen- 

 dicular rock. Entering the canon from below he w r alked 

 directly up the centre to within fifty yards of the herd, 

 which were crowded together at the upper end. He then 

 opened fire, and shot down, one after the other, the whole 

 herd, not one making an attempt to escape, though the 

 canon was more than 100 yards wide, and they could 

 have passed the hunter on either side without approach- 

 ing nearer to him. 



The Big Horn River breaks its way through the 

 mountains by one of the most magnificent canons on the 

 continent, the sheer descent of the gorge being in many 

 places not less than 2,000 feet. Three army officers, 

 hunting elk one day along the edge of this chasm, came 

 upon a herd of some thirty elk, which took refuge in a 

 small growth of pine timber. One hunter took position 

 on each side, while the third went into the timber. 



