AN ELK SEASON. 145 



horns with the hide and about 50 Ibs. of elk-beef ; the re- 

 mainder of the carcase goes to the owner of the farm on 

 which the elk is first shot at, whether actually killed upon 

 it or over the boundary upon the land of his neighbour. 

 But if a hunter kills outside of his rented right he must 

 always be able to prove ownership by the tracks, which in 

 the soft ground and moss generally leave a clear record. 



When I leased my rights in the spring Kristian was 

 already engaged, but he procured for me another hunter, 

 Peder Rodseth, who was said to possess an excellent dog. 

 In hunting elk success depends to an enormous extent on 

 the hound, and Peder's Bismarck, though not to be com- 

 pared with Kristian's dog of the same name, could hold his 

 own with most others. One windy night Peder came to 

 be introduced, and we held a conversation limited by the 

 fact that he knew about half a dozen words of English and 

 I as many of Norwegian. But for all that Peder proved a 

 capital companion, for whom no day was too long, and his 

 persistent cheery optimism was a delightful quality during 

 the long period of ill-success through which we passed 

 together. 



The diverse methods of elk-hunting adopted in Norway 

 and Sweden have been described by many writers, and very 

 few words need be said of them here. In both countries 

 the hound is used, but whereas in Sweden it is loosed on the 

 trail of the elk, in Norway the dog is yoked with a breast 

 harness to which a leader some seven or eight feet long is 

 attached. Held in leash in this manner the bind-hund, as 

 he is called, does the work of leading the hunter to his 

 quarry. 



The end of August and the opening of September slipped 

 by, but as the great day, the loth, approached a new order 

 of things was ushered in. Tall bearded men in Lapp boots, 

 and each accompanied by the inevitable elk-hound, stalked 

 down from lonely dwellings in the hills to the skyds-station 



