AN ELK SEASON. 143 



hunt " not wisely but too well/' in the sense of hunting 

 without rest or allowing himself any remission of effort. 

 Should these three weeks ever be curtailed to two, it would, 

 I imagine, be a mistaken policy, as not many British sports- 

 men will pay a licence and a heavy rent for a fortnight's 

 shooting ; indeed, individually he grumbles a little, and 

 sometimes more than a little, even now, for it is safe to say 

 that few tenants of elking-rights kill their limit, at any rate 

 in northern Norway. 



I arrived some three weeks before the elk season, which 

 opens on the loth of September, and found my headquarters 

 on a flat hill-top overlooking a long stretch of the Namsen 

 River ; there we dwelt in a Noah's Ark house, scaled to 

 human size, which, with one or two similar arks, stood 

 round an oblong of unkempt grass. I put in many pleasant 

 days after ryper and blackgame, during which, if my bag 

 was very small, I at least had good opportunity of learning 

 the limits of my ground, as well as of occasionally taking an 

 elk-hound, but no rifle, over the hills. 



The farms, over six of which I had acquired rights, 

 were one very like another, containing, save in the lower 

 valley of the Namsen and a few acres round the saeters, very 

 little cleared ground, the remainder of the land being made 

 up of marsh, mountain, and forest. During the summer 

 the cattle are herded on the hills which form the elk-grounds, 

 but very shortly before the elk season the saeters are aban- 

 doned and the rights left to peace and quiet. The sudden 

 appearance of a Lapp encampment upon one's most promis- 

 ing ground is always a possibility, and one which entirely 

 destroys all hope of sport in its not only close but very wide 

 vicinity. Of recent years elk have increased largely in 

 numbers in Namdalen, although, owing to the ruthless way 

 in which the young bulls are shot, good heads are not 

 common. 



On my six farms were four saeters, or huts, from which 



