374 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



ground which surrounds them. Instances are related where bands 

 of Elk have been thus observed from high, overlooking points, 

 when a gale of wind was blowing, whence the hunter has shot 

 down a considerable number before the balance would take the 

 alarm. They would look upon the struggles of the dying in 

 amazement, but without suspecting it was the work of an 

 enemj'. 



There is no doubt that our Elk has less tenacity of life than 

 any other American member of the family. I have inflicted a 

 wound upon an Elk through the head, quite below the brain, 

 and without cutting an artery, and without occasioning much 

 hemorrhage, which a common deer would have carried fifty miles, 

 and found the Elk dead in half art hour after, and within half a 

 mile of the place where he was shot. My own observations have 

 been confirmed by the testimony of old hunters of vastly more 

 experience than I can claim, and if my recollection rightly 

 serves me, the observations of Lewis and Clarke were to the same 

 effect. 



I have seen a few accounts of their being pursued with grey- 

 hounds on the western plains, by army officers stationed at fron- 

 tier posts, but, from the accounts, I judge they are not as gamy 

 as the common deer, — though they may equal in endurance the 

 European stags, — and they undoubtedly lack the endurance of 

 the moose or the caribou. When pursued on horseback the Elk 

 makes for broken and rocky ground, if any be accessible, where 

 the pursuit usually terminates, but if away on the plains, the 

 chase is an exciting and an interesting one. The Elk leads away 

 in a rapid trot, which if not broken he holds for a long distance, 

 but Avhen forced from this into a run, if the animal be fat, he soon 

 breaks down, but if lean he endures it well, and leads a fine chase 

 before he is run into. 



None other of our deer fatten so kindly or get so fat as the 

 Elk, and possibly this may account for their lack of bottom in 

 the chase. 



THE MULE DEER. 



The pursuit of the Mule Deer is almost entirely confined to 

 stalking or still hunting. They are found in the high mountains 

 as well as in the valleys of the creeks and rivers in the plains. 

 Where they are much pursued they are wary, and tax the skill 

 of the hunter to approach them. They are fond of browsing on 

 the young cottouwoods, which grow along the streams and in 



