The Wapiti or Round-Horned Elk. 169 



down under the cliff ; I guess it 's an elk " (he had never 

 seen one before) ; and the next moment, as old Tompkins 

 expressed it, " the elk came bilin' out of thecoulie." Old 

 Tompkins had a rifle on this occasion and the sight of 

 game always drove him crazy ; as I aimed I heard Dow 

 telling him " to let the boss do the shooting " ; and I killed 

 the elk to a savage interjectional accompaniment of threats 

 delivered at old man Tompkins between the shots. 



Elk are sooner killed off than any other game save 

 buffalo, but this is due to their size and the nature of the 

 ground they frequent rather than to their lack of shyness. 

 They like open woodland, or mountainous park country, 

 or hills riven by timber coulies ; and such ground is the 

 most favorable to the hunter, and the most attractive in 

 which to hunt. On the other hand moose, for instance, 

 live in such dense cover that it is very difficult to get at 

 them ; when elk are driven by incessant persecution to take 

 refuge in similar fastnesses they become almost as hard to 

 kill. In fact, in this respect the elk stands to the moose 

 much as the blacktail stands to the whitetail. The moose 

 and whitetail are somewhat warier than the elk and black- 

 tail ; but it is the nature of the ground which they inhabit 

 that tells most in their favor. On the other hand, as com- 

 pared to the blacktail, it is only the elk's size which puts it 

 at a disadvantage in the struggle for life when the rifle- 

 bearing hunter appears on the scene. It is quite as shy 

 and difficult to approach as the deer ; but its bulk renders 

 it much more eagerly hunted, more readily seen, and more 

 easily hit. Occasionally elk suffer from fits of stupid tame- 

 ness or equally stupid panic ; but the same is true of 



