372 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



THE ELK. 



• 



The American Elk, or Wapiti Deer, is noble game, and its pur- 

 suit affords exciting sport to the hunter. His range is much 

 more diversified than that of the moose, for he ranges the prai- 

 ries and the plains, as well as the forests and the mountains. 

 If he does not make his home on the barren plains of the far 

 ■west, he ranges across them from one belt of timber to another, 

 which are usually found along the streams which intersect them ; 

 and before the white man had driven him from the fertile prairies 

 of the Mississippi valley they were extensively grazed by the Elk. 

 Almost the only mode of hunting the Elk, either by the Indian 

 or the white man, is by stalking, or the still hunt, or sometimes 

 by pursuit on horseback. Being social and gregarious in their 

 habits, they are usually found in bands of greater or less numbers, 

 although it is by no means uncommon to find solitary individuals 

 scattered through the country, — usually young males. They are 

 less suspicious than the moose, and their senses of smell and hear- 

 ing are less acute, while few other animals excel them in. these 

 regards. But, as the hunters express it, they have less sense than 

 the moose, or, indeed, most of the smaller deer, but they are by 

 no means so simple as to destroy one's interest in them, or make 

 their capture an easy matter. 



When sought for in prairie countries, the hunter expects to 

 find them along the creek or river bottoms, where the grasses are 

 more abundant and sweeter, and where they find arboreous food, 

 which they crave to mix with the herbaceous. Here, too, they 

 find the shade in which they delight. Thus occupying lower 

 ground than the surrounding country, the hunter from elevated 

 positions may overlook the valley, till the game is discovered 

 either grazing in security below, or quietly ruminating in the 

 shade of the trees. He has already studied the course of the 

 wind, so as to be always to the leeward of the game. A careful 

 study of the ground then ensues, and objects sought which may 

 be made to cover the approach to within range. This is not so 

 difficult as the approach to the moose, still it is indispensable to 

 study the course of the wind, for if the wind wafts to him the 

 least taint from his enemy, the Elk detects it in an instant, and 

 is off. He is not sent away by the snapping of a twig, or the 

 rustle of a leaf, if he cannot see the cause, still the hunter must 

 observe great caution in his approach, and especially not to al- 

 low the game to get a glimpse of him when in motion. In stalk- 1 



