Big Game Aruiiwh of tJie Yellozvstone 437 



on the commercial scale formerly allowed ? Many outdoor enthusiasts 

 have enjoyed cougar hunts on the rim of the Grand Canyon and our 

 hunting literature is filled with tales of their adventures. Nor is it 

 always the chase that ends in a killing that is most memorable. When 

 the cougar has been treed or brought to bay, the camera sportsman is 

 sure to get some thrilling photographs, the best sort of trophy of 

 his adventure and one that does not tend to deprive others of like 

 opportunities. 



ELK OR WAPITI 



Cerz'us caiuiclciisis Erxleben 



More care is lavished annually on the great elk herds of Yellow- 

 stone Park than on any of the other big game species. The Park 

 management takes a laudable pride in having maintained large num- 

 bers of the elk in the face of very great difftculties. The story of 

 the rangers' desperate struggle year after year to save the elk from 

 the hunters lining the boundary and eager for slaughter, is vividly 

 described in Hal Evarts' Passing of tlic Old West (1921). The 

 results of the Park protection policy are encouraging, as these ani- 

 mals still far outnumber all the other species of big game combined. 

 With the proposed southward enlargement of the Park, which it is 

 hoped Congress will provide for in the very near future, the safety 

 of at least the southern herd will be assured for all time. 



The summer tourist notices elk trails everywhere in the forests 

 and on the open hillsides, often deeply worn by thousands of hoofs 

 along the main migration routes (fig. 66) ; but he seldom sees the 

 animals themselves, as they are ranging on the higher slopes at that 

 season. If he were to visit the Park in late autumn, however, he 

 would find the valleys dotted with many hundreds of them. In 

 severe winters they are fed on hay cut and stacked in these valleys 

 the previous summer. The wapiti do not thrive on willow browse 

 like the moose, but when hard pressed in winter they commonly 

 resort to the aspen woods (fig. 67) where they gnaw the green bark 

 of the trunks to eke out a scanty fare. 



To me, the finest spectacle in Yellowstone Park is that of the rival 

 elk bulls bugling and fighting in the autumn for the possession of 

 their harems. The heavily antlered males are exceedingly noble in 

 carriage, especially when traveling at speed, muzzle pointing straight 

 forward and the great antlers lying back along the sides. Their 

 characteristic gait is a rapid trot (fig. 70). 



Early snows in the Park are a source of great danger to the elk 

 herds, which then wander past the boundaries in spite of the patrols 



