AN ELK SEASON. 165 



season that I found any in the lower woodlands, that made 

 up the greater proportion of my ground. Had the weather 

 been stormy the elk would probably have descended to take 

 refuge in the valleys at the least a week earlier than actually 

 happened in that year. I have reason to believe that during 

 the concluding five days there were six elk on Elstad where 

 only one had been during the greater part of the season. 



Personally I found the Norwegian mountains harder 

 ground to hunt than any I had ever tried. One often hears 

 of the forty and even fifty mile walks taken by elk-hunters, 

 but I doubt if these distances, accurately measured with a 

 chain, would work out at the same figures. As to running 

 after a loose hound, as is done on the easier ground over the 

 Swedish border, the man who could run over the Elstad or 

 Gartland mountains I have yet to meet. For myself it was 

 all I could do to walk over them day after day for many 

 consecutive days. 



As to the rank among field sports in which elk-hunting 

 should be placed, it seems to me that for a hunter who 

 worked his own dog the sport would be magnificent, and his 

 chances of success owing to the more silent approach pos- 

 sible to the single-handed stalker would be more than 

 doubled. For such sport, however, a very well-trained dog 

 would be required, as before the hunter fired he must put 

 his foot on the leash, and a 40 Ib. or 60 Ib. dog straining to 

 release himself would not conduce to straight shooting. 

 Of course once the elk was located it might be possible to 

 leave the hound tied to a tree, but the Norwegian elk- 

 hounds that in such circumstances would not betray their 

 presence vocally are few and far between. 



The Norwegian system of training elk-hounds seems to 

 be largely a matter of taking advantage of inherited instinct. 

 Before the season opened the farmer Kristian Fiskum, the 

 most famous shot and elk-hunter in Namdalen, wished to 

 try a young dog about eighteen months old, which had never 



