AN ELK SEASON. 175 



only one had been during the greater part of the 

 season. 



Personally I found the Norwegian mountains harder 

 ground to hunt than any I had ever tried. One often 

 hears of the forty and even fifty mile walks taken by 

 elk-hunters, but I doubt if these distances, accurately 

 measured with a chain, would work out at the same 

 figures. As to running after a loose hound, as is done 

 on the easier ground over the Swedish border, the man 

 who could run over the Els tad or Gartland mountains 

 I have yet to meet. For myself it was all I could do 

 to walk over them day after day for many consecutive 

 days. 



As to the rank among field sports in which elk- 

 hunting should be placed, it seems to me that for a 

 hunter who worked his own dog the sport would be 

 magnificent, and his chances of success owing to the 

 more silent approach possible to the single-handed 

 stalker would be more than doubled. For such sport, 

 however, a very well-trained dog would be required, 

 as before the hunter fired he must put his foot on the 

 leash, and a 40 Ib. or 60 Ib. dog straining to release him- 

 self would not conduce to straight shooting. Of course 

 once the elk was located it might be possible to leave 

 the hound tied to a tree, but the Norwegian elk-hounds 

 that in such circumstances would not betray their 

 presence vocally are few and far between. 



The Norwegian system of training elk- hounds seems 

 to be largely a matter of taking advantage of inherited 

 instinct. Before the season opened the farmer Kristian 

 Fiskum, the most famous shot and elk-hunter in 

 Namdalen, wished to try a young dog about eighteen 

 months old, which had never been out after elk, and 



