154 HUNTING CAMPS. 



turn with eight fingers outstretched, cheerfully indicative 

 of a sixteen point bull. 



I was up early to find a misty morning with a promise 

 of rain, that continued to threaten all day but did not 

 fall. The weather to hope for, the weather proper to 

 elk-hunting, and that most conducive to success, is a 

 gale of wind with torrential rain beating down through 

 the tree tops, for the noise of the storm, as well as the 

 soft condition produced under foot, tends to cover the 

 hunter's approach from the large keen ears of his quarry. 

 In those thick forests the walking is almost invariably 

 bad ; moss, wind-fallen trees, often boulders and slippery 

 surfaces of rock, and, worse than all, dry branches and 

 decaying brush make silent progress a matter of extreme 

 difficulty. My lot during the best part of three weeks 

 was bright weather with a hot sun, and towards the end 

 frosty nights with crisp grass and frozen pools. 



Though 1 was up before dawn, Peder was waiting for 

 me with a cariole, as I had decided to start by hunting 

 the Gartland Forest where the big bull had been seen 

 by the saeter girl. After putting up the horse at 

 Gartland Farm we commenced a laborious climb to 

 reach high ground, for although later in the year elk 

 were found in the lower pine forests, at the time 1 write 

 of boys were herding cattle in them, and they were 

 consequently useless. This long preliminary climb to 

 reach the elk-grounds, when undertaken daily, makes 

 a very definite addition to the call upon the physical 

 energy that is needed for the direct purpose of hunting. 

 In dull, quiet weather we ascended, but we were met 

 on the ridges by a strong wind, which whistled through 

 the spreading thickets of dwarf-birch and ruffled the 

 surface of the upland waters. Under foot mosses made 



