Hunting American Big Game 



as high as they can climb, and seem to 

 delight in standing on the brink of some 

 mountain precipice. I have often won- 

 dered, in seeing them standing thus, 

 whether they were insensible to the mag- 

 nificent scenery that surrounded them. 



Reader, what would you have given 

 to see, as I have, a band of two hun- 

 dred and fifty bull-elk all collected to- 

 gether on a beautiful piece of green grassy 

 turf at an elevation of nine thousand feet ? 

 Here was a sight to make a man's nerves 

 tingle ! This was the largest band of 

 bulls, by actual count, that I have ever 

 seen ; though my cousin and partner once 

 saw in the fall of the year, including 

 bulls, cows, and calves, fifteen hundred. 

 This was on the memorable occasion 

 when the only elk ever killed by any of 

 my men gave up his life : and we have 

 all concluded that this particular elk was 

 frightened to death; for though three men 

 shot at him, and each was confident he 

 hit him, they always asserted afterward 

 that no bullet-mark could be found on 

 him. 



Generally, in August, in each band of 

 bulls there will be found one or two bar- 

 ren cows ; about the end of August, after 

 the bulls have rubbed the velvet off their 



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