THE WAPITI OR ELK 49 



have touched them with my hand ; and during the rut- 

 ting season the bulls will, if alone, come trotting up to 

 even a ver}^ poor imitation of their ' whistle' or keep 

 answering it if with the herd." 



Mr. Wadsworth, referring to the recent introduction 

 of the elk into the Adirondacks, says : " I hope the elk 

 will be introduced into New York as a ' beast of orna- 

 ment,' not as a ' beast of chase,' " and he adds that one 

 live elk is worth more to any forest than a ton of his meat. 



What Mr. Wadsworth says was true of the elk a few 

 years ago, but, as I have already observed, the elk of 

 to-day has overcome this objection and is a different 

 animal — ^in fact, he is now one of the most difficult deer 

 to stalk successfully. Mr. Corbin informs me that the 

 elk are too tame to be interesting at the Blue Mountain 

 preserve. I suggested the introduction of a few cou- 

 gars, less feeding and more shooting.* An elk which 

 is kept and fed in an enclosure becomes tame, and of 

 course is not a game-animal. But on a large preserve, 

 where enough shooting is done to keep the elk wild, 

 they are a most desirable game-animal, and if the 

 shooting is confined to the natural increase and the 

 animals are looked after as other deer are on the 

 foreign preserves, there is no reason why we should 

 not have good elk-shooting for all time to come. 

 The same writer tells us that there is a great local 

 pretence that the elk are killed off by " Eastern 

 dudes," " tourists," " Indians," etc., but the majority 

 are taken late in the season by men who go into the 

 mountains for "meat' for winter use, and by pot- 



* A few wolves would give the elk some exercise. They should be used 

 sparingly, however. 



