ELK-HUNTING IN NORWAY 111 



reading game- signs accurately is essential. Last, but 

 not least, the knack of shooting rapidly, as well as 

 accurately, and at moving game, is necessary for 

 success in woodland stalking. In the open stalk the 

 game is seen perhaps for hours before a shot is 

 obtained, which should be a quiet one at a feeding 

 or lying animal unconscious of danger. In woodland 

 hunting fresh signs may be plentiful, but the game 

 is usually invisible until a few moments before the 

 shot, which generally has to be taken at an animal 

 moving or on the alert. 



What a concentration of excitement is here when 

 4 drawing the bead ' ! It may be the chance of a 

 week or a season at a big beast for a coveted trophy, 

 which if once missed may not occur again. The 

 chance has come suddenly, perhaps unexpectedly. 

 All depends on the accurate working of hand and 

 eye within, say, a particular three seconds of time. 

 To take good aim under exciting conditions, and yet 

 to shoot quickly, requires some self-control, and also 

 the training of actual experience of this form of 

 sport, as rtrell as a thorough knowledge of the weapon 

 used. The tyro will either take a snapshot, as at a 

 woodcock in cover, or else he will fail to get his piece 

 off before the game has moved out of sight. Luck, 

 it is needless to say, plays a considerable part in 

 woodland sport at times. Big-game hunters are 

 usually superstitious, and in many small ways pay 

 homage to the Goddess of Chance. I had long known 

 that elk-hunting in Norway, as well as in Canada, was 

 an uncertain and somewhat chancy business. This, 

 no doubt, is one of its attractions. Sportsmen of my 

 acquaintance have hunted elk for years without 

 getting a good head ; and to go a fortnight or so, 



