140 Deer and Antelope of North America 



beasts lying like rabbits in some patch of thick 

 brush, while I rode close by. The best hunting 

 horse I ever had, old Manitou, in addition to his 

 other useful qualities, would serve as a guard on 

 such occasions. I would leave him on a little 

 hillock to one side of such a patch of brush, and 

 as he walked slowly about, grazing and rattling 

 his bridle chains, he would prevent the wapiti 

 breaking cover on that side, and give me an addi- 

 tional chance of slipping around toward them 

 although, if the animal was a cow, I never molested 

 it unless in dire need of meat. 



Most of my elk hunting was done among the 

 stupendous mountain masses of the Rockies, which 

 I usually reached after a long journey, with wagon- 

 or pack-train, over the desolate plains. Ordinarily 

 I planned to get to the hunting-ground by the end 

 of August, so as to have ample time. By that 

 date the calves were out of the spotted coat, the 

 cows and the young of the preceding year had 

 banded, and the big bulls had come down to join 

 them from the remote recesses in which they had 

 been lying, solitary or in couples, while their antlers 

 were growing. Many bulls were found alone, or, 

 if young, in small parties ; but the normal arrange- 

 ment was for each big bull to have his own harem, 

 around the outskirts of which there were to be 

 found lurking occasional spike bulls who were 

 always venturing too near and being chased off 



