THE SCANDINAVIAN ELK 135 



and sporadic race of animals, averse to neighbours, does not 

 exist on the face of the earth. 



In Scandinavia, now that the use of traps, pitfalls and the 

 like is abolished, there are three legitimate methods of killing 

 elk — namely : stalking with the ' bind-hund,' or, as I may 

 render it in English, leash-hound ; running with the loose 

 hound ; and driving. Of these three methods it may be said 

 that the first is more worthy than the second, and the second 

 than the third. In Norway, owing to the operation of the 

 legal enactment * one farm one elk,' driving is practised on so 

 insignificant a scale as to be scarcely worth noticing. Oc- 

 casionally, when elk are known to frequent a precipitous 

 mountain, whence it is impossible for them to descend except 

 by certain passes where the guns can be stationed, a few- 

 beaters may be employed to move the elk quietly, with a fair 

 prospect of success ; but if it should happen that two or more 

 of the passes are within the same holding, some care is necessary 

 to guard against the chance of more elk than the one allowed 

 being illegally killed. A drive of this kind is in Norway 

 termed a ' klapjagt,' from the noise made by the beaters. The 

 term is corrupted by British sportsmen into 'slapjack.' In 

 certain situations where the ground is favourable, as in a 

 narrow glen or on an isthmus between two lakes, the single 

 sportsman may attempt something of the same kind by the aid 

 of his hunter or attendant, who, making a long circuit, comes 

 upon the elk down wind, and starts them towards the gun in 

 ambush. Nothing more than the wind of man is necessary to 

 move the elk, and the more quietly all these driving operations 

 are conducted the better. The hunter who is wise will always 

 avoid disturbing elk needlessly or wantonly, as they quickly 

 become suspicious of danger, and are apt to travel long dis- 

 tances. In Sweden elk driving has been practised for a great 

 number of years, and sometimes on an immense scale. In 

 Lloyd's works, ' Field Sports of the North of Europe,' and 

 Scandinavian Adventures,' will be found a detailed account of 

 ome of the great ' Dref- and Knaptskalls,' arranged in former 



