THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 255 
in their respective districts have done a great deal toward protecting 
the elk in both Lane and Lincoln Counties. 
I entered the service of the Game Department four years ago. 
During this time I have visited practically all the districts in which 
elk range, in both western Lincoln and Lane Counties and parts of 
Douglas, and have had a good chance to notice conditions of the elk. 
With the exception of one or two localities, the elk are on the increase. 
One herd, by actual count, in the spring of 1912, contained 18 elk. 
Today this herd, by actual count, has increased to 37 head, with a 
nice bunch of calves. 
An old settler told me that not many years ago this herd con- 
sisted of three elk, a cow, a yearling and a calf. At one time he 
found them in a canyon not seventy-five yards distant. He said he 
hesitated quite a while before deciding not to kill this last little bunch 
of elk. Fifteen years before elk were quite numerous there. Thus 
we see how easily this entire herd could have been exterminated. 
The elk naturally is not a timid animal, as is usually supposed. 
I once approached within fifty feet of three elk feeding in the tall 
salal. They did not notice me until they scented me; then they ran 
only about one hundred feet and stopped. Later, the same day, I 
walked in the open within one hundred feet of twenty-five elk; one 
old cow started for me, striking the ground with her fore feet. I 
lost no time climbing a nearby fir tree, but soon the whole herd bolted 
for the timber. 
Where elk have been molested by man or dogs, they will not 
venture far from the cover of tall timber. The elk in the Coast 
Range feed principally on salal, wild pea vine and vetch. During the 
early spring and summer they are found feeding in the open range 
on the wild vetch. Upon the approach of early storms they will seek 
the heavy timber and underbrush, occasionally coming out in the open 
for a short period. Their feeding habits somewhat resemble those 
of Angora goats. If possible they will bed for the night near water, 
out on some ‘open ridge. They often feed by moonlight, coming out 
of the timber near sunset and feeding most of the night and lying 
down toward morning. I have often seen them coming out of the 
young alders soon after sunrise, feeding on the hillsides toward noon, 
then entering the alders for the rest of the day. I have noticed the 
young calves by the first of May. Before the young are born, the 
female leaves the main herd, sometimes taking her yearling with her. 
In about.two weeks she returns to the herd with her young. I have 
never noticed but one calf with a cow elk, with one exception, during 
the spring of 1913, I found a cow with two calves. In the following 
September, in the same herd, my brother saw a cow with two calves, 
undoubtedly the same ones. Of course, there is a possibility that the 
mother had adopted an orphan calf. I have made many inquiries, 
but aside from this case I have never heard of any one seeing two 
calves with an elk cow. 
Cougars, no doubt, kill some calves every year, though only once 
have I found where one had been killed. Cougars are not now very 
numerous in this section of country. Not long ago I saw the carcass 
of an elk that had been killed about two months before. The horns 
and tusks had been taken away, but conditions looked as though no 
‘meat had been removed. Evidently the elk had been killed for the 
tusks alone. Since this noble animal has been so nearly exterminated 
from our state, surely no true sportsman could have committed ue 
an act! The law is not too severe for such violations.. 
