62 HOOFED ANIMALS 



with him. Not wishing to be punctured, the intended vic- 

 tim lays hold of the antlers, and seeks to keep them out of 

 his vitals. On finding himself opposed, the buck begins to 

 drive forward like a battering-ram, and then the struggle 

 is on. 



Heaven help the man thus attacked, if no other help be 

 near! He shuts his teeth, grips the murderous bone spears 

 with all his strength, leans well forward, and with the strength 

 and nimbleness of desperation, struggles to maintain his 

 grasp and keep his feet. Each passing instant the rage of 

 the buck and his joy of combat increase. If the man goes 

 down, and help fails to come quickly, his chances of escaping 

 the spears are few. 



Once when unarmed and alone I saved myself from an 

 infuriated buck (fortunately a small one) by suddenly releas- 

 ing one antler, seizing a fore leg low down, and pulling it up 

 so high that the animal was powerless to lunge forward as he 

 had been doing. In this way I held him at bay, and at last 

 worked him to a spot where I secured a stout cudgel, with 

 which I belabored him so unmercifully that he was con- 

 quered for that day. 



The strength and fury of a buck of insignificant size are 

 often beyond belief. The loving "pet" of May readily be- 

 comes the dangerous, fury-filled murderer of October. With 

 a large deer of any species, a man not fully armed has little 

 chance. In the winter of 1902, at Helena, Montana, a man 

 armed with a pitchfork entered an elk corral, to show a friend 

 that the large male elk feared him. The elk furiously at- 

 tacked him and killed him before he could be rescued. 



