THE WAPITI OR ELK 51 



The sight of the elk is keen, but perhaps not so 

 good as that of the antelope. He hears as well as a 

 deer, and has a nose which warns him of danger a long 

 way off. He walks rapidly or goes off, at a rapid 

 swinging trot, travelling much faster than he appears 

 to, and when he has a fair start it takes a good horse 

 to overtake him on the open plain. No rider can hope 

 to keep up with him as he goes smashing through the 

 heavy brush and timber, easily stepping over fallen 

 logs and tree-tops, and brushing aside branches which 

 soon bring the horseman to a halt. He is said to lack 

 bottom, when running, and that if pressed into a gal- 

 lop, a horseman can easily overtake him. I once 

 endeavored to ascertain if this was a fact. Having 

 dismounted to shoot, and killed an elk in the open, I 

 sprang into the saddle and rode hard after another, 

 shouting at him, and trying to make him run. He 

 kept well ahead of me, however, on the trot and went 

 into the timber some distance ahead without a break. 

 There I soon found it advisable to give up the chase. 

 He gained so rapidly that 1 ceased to hear him smash- 

 ing through the brush while I was compelled to go 

 slowly. 



The elk are gregarious and polygamous. They 

 were sometimes seen in great bands containing a 

 thousand or more animals. Mr. Leek, of Wyoming, 

 showed me this spring a photograph, containing over 

 a thousand elk, which he made last winter in the Jack- 

 sons Hole country south of the National Park. This is 

 the only place, I believe, outside the park where such 

 large bands are ever seen to-day.* Like the deer, the 



* This shows the value to the surrounding country of game preserving. 



