160 SHORT STALKS 



those animals wliicli arc to be foiiiul on open ground, like 

 the red deer, and, above all, the chamois, because in that 

 case the contest between the strategy of man and the 

 instinct of the beast, the varying fortunes of the day, the 

 complications of the scientific stalk, are visible and patent 

 to the least experienced sjjortsman, and shared in by him 

 during the greater part of the daylight hours, (hi the 

 other hand, to the elk hunter the golden chance for which 

 he has toiled, while it seldom ofiers, may occur suddenly 

 and almost without warnino-. He must work on in faith 

 and not by sight, and if for many hours his dog leads him 

 on a not too fresh track of an old ox, he must bear in 

 mind that all the time his quarry may be miles beyond 

 his boundary, or may have come round to leeward and Ijc 

 at that moment snitting the tainted air, in wliicli case the 

 hunter will find it out, when he reaches the spot, by the 

 leno;thened stride and mud-scatterino- hoof-marks of an 

 elk that has been skiwmt, to quote an expressive and onl}' 

 too familiar word from the vernacular. 



On the other hand, some sportsmen have surprising- 

 luck. I heard of a novice, whose host sent him out on the 

 opening day of last season. He had not penetrated a 

 hundred yards into the forest before he disturbed a large 

 l)ull elk, and fired a snap shot at its retreating form. 

 Hurrying forward he oljtained a second glimpse, and fired 

 again, as he supposed, at the same elk. Laying on the 

 dog, he presently came up to the animal in its last gasjD, 

 and, a few yards farther, a second in the same condition. 



There are not many of us who have fairy godmothers, 

 or carry such straight powder as this, and the very uncer- 

 tainty and the raritv of obtainino- a clear view of an 



