TIIK ROCKV MOUNTAINS 101 



reuiarkable. In fact, according to some of llic histories I 

 lia\(i read, lie iiiiisi l»c (|uiic the smartest character in the 

 ►States. He Inllows the ti'appcr (Mi his rounds, and springs 

 ;ill I he ti'aps with a stick before lie eats tiie haits. When 

 I hey set a spring- gun for Iiiin, he /i<i/j-rocks it before he 

 steals the meat ! 



Subscqnentl)-, I followed tlie e(piall\' I'resli track of a 

 gray wolf, who appeared to ha\e Iteeii watching me for 

 som<' time from behind a fadeii tree before he had slunk 

 away. It is liardl}' necessary to say that snow tracking is 

 not the surest methoil of tilliim- the larder, but it is an 

 eminently suggestive way of spending a happy dav. 



In the course of this walk I came upon a bare hillside 

 facing south, on wdiich were large numbers of shed elk 

 horn?;, some of which were, of grand dimensions. ]\[any 

 had hiin long enough to become partially decomposed. 

 1 suppose the warmth of the situation must tempt the elk 

 to come here in the slieddino- time, which is the month of 

 April for the old bulls. 1 do not know whether the 

 wapiti is less anxious than other deer undoubtedly are 

 to conceal these e\ ideiices of their presence. They are 

 certainly more fre(juently found. 



The extrai^rdinai'N' pheuoiiKMia of horn growth would 

 be beyond the sco})e of this chapier. but it ma\' be well to 

 remiinl the unleariieil that these antlers are completely 

 Q-rown each year in a ixriod of ten or eleven weeks, and 

 become almost as hai'd as ivory in anothei' month. As 

 every sportsman who has sawn a wa]>iti head in half foi- 

 transportation knows, to the cost of his muscle.-, the .-hull 

 which supports this structure is extremely massive, having 

 a minimum thickness of nearh' an iiirli. ( )ne of mv 



