648 
December, 1919 
FOREST AND STREAM 
ON AN ELK HUNT IN THE OLYMPICS 
INTO A WONDERLAND OF THE NOKTHAYEST BEFORE IT WAS IN- 
CLUDED IN THE FOREST RESERVE AND UNCLE SAM SAID FORBE.UI 
F UOM boyhood 1 have been au ardeut 
sportsman and have had many red- 
letter days with rod and g^in. My 
enthusiasm in this direction has led me 
to endure many hardships, but the tough- 
est time 1 ever had was in the fall of '91, 
when hunting elk in the Olympic moun- 
tains, in* the State of Washington. 
On the 15th of September of that year, 
in company with II. M. Swartout, of Hart- 
wick Seminary, N. Y.. and Geo W. Driver, 
of South Prairie, Washington, I left Ta- 
coma. by steamer, and CO hours later 
landed at Port Crescent, on the straits of 
.Tuan Dc P'uca. We had arranged for 
transportation to Lake Crescent, 6 miles 
inland, where we lingered for a day, lured 
by the magnificent trout fishing. We then 
pushed on to our permanent camp at the 
hot sulphur springs, at the head of the 
Solduc river. We w'ere transported to 
the head of the lake, 9 miles, by a small 
steam launch. Here we were met by our 
guide, Charles S. Jones, w'ho was ))ro- 
vided with packherses to carry our camp 
outfit to the springs, 17 miles distant, 
while we had to w’alk. 
It began to rain almost immediately on 
our arrival and kept up for three days 
and nights. About 12 o'clock the third 
night of the storm we were awakened by 
a rush of water througli our tent, flood- 
ing everything. The rest of the night we 
put in standing under a big sycamore- 
tree, but we had gotten used to being wet 
and scarcely . felt conifortahle unless our 
clothing was sticking to us like porous 
plasters. 
It was too wet to hunt, so we put in 
our time bathing in the hot springs, cool;- 
Ing, lingering around the camp-fire or 
fishing for trout in the Solduc. We kept 
our larder well supplied, for trout were 
there in schools and eager for tiio fly. Vvo 
were followed inio the mountains by our 
iiiends, i\Ir. K. A. Spaulding, of Tacoma, 
and Mr. G. H. Kingsbury, of Rochester, 
X. Y., eik-hunters like ourselves, 
They reached our camp safe and on 
Monday, September 29th. our entire 
party, with the guidt', started out for our 
f.r.d. real hunt. The result was a fine 
hull elk. v.hich was started by Spaulding 
and killed by Kingsbury, (i miles from 
the springs. The folloying day Jones 
and 1 were passing near whore the elk 
had l)cen kilhvl, when Jones’ dog trcecl 
a i)Por That had l>'>en feeding on the car- 
cri;;:‘ of the elk ! tsruiinateJ hi - career 
!)v iiutting a hail through hi- he:irt. He 
Cl nm nlr.mpina re rhe ground and was 
ao'iu relieved of his skin and choicest 
cut'-. 
Swar'ont and I 1 a<’ nugie nretty tlior- 
riue’n ''areh for gaiu“ through at! Ilm r.s- 
viups within a radiu.s of .'i or 'I miles o." 
camp, except the Valley of Veu>'e creek. 
By W. a. STERNBERG. 
We had one day climbed a high peak and 
from its ci’est had discovered some grassy 
parks at the head of this creek. A few 
days later we determined to se,e what we 
could find in them, for they promised 
well for elk. 
We concluded to dispense with our 
guide, as he seemed more anxious to dis- 
suade than to go with us. V.’e had pro- 
ceeded up the creek valley barely 20 min- 
utes v.'hen we got into a well-traveled 
elk trail and struck fresh signs by the 
score. 
Delighted beyond measure, we quick- 
eued our pace, for we had a good open 
trail, and silently but swiftly forged 
ahead. 
We quickly covered several miles, the 
signs showing we were fast coming up 
with the herd, Avheu, on rounding a sharp 
bend in the creek, wc suddenly came upen 
a sight that brought our rifles to our 
shoulders aud set our hearts thumping. 
Right in front of us, was a magnificent 
band of elk, numbering at least To. There 
were a numljcr of young l)ulls but we only 
saw two fully-aiitiered ones, one being of 
enormous size. They were slow in start- 
ing off, first bunching up, but the oldest 
hull was on the farther side and close to 
the edge of a hemlock thicket. Moved 
by a common impulse, both Swartout and 
I took a shot at him, both shots taking 
effect. He went staggering into tlie brush 
and was out of sight in a moment. Th 
oihci" big ’mil in the rneantinie had dis- 
appeared in the thicket.' I concluded to 
kill one of the smaller ones for meat, but 
not to shell the herd, for we were not in 
the slaughtering business. I fired a single 
sl.iot. At the crack of my gnu I saw the 
elk 1 had aimed at fall dead and ro- 
marked that I “lind dropped him neatly.” 
Swartout said: "Why. my dear boy, you 
(Icn’t Ihinl; you killed that bull?” 
“Certainly,” I replied. “I had a bead 
on him, and he went all in a heap at my 
shot.” 
“Why. he dropiied at my shot!” said 
Dick. “1 did not know you fired.” 
“Neither did 1 hear your shot,"’ said T, 
“however, no matter who killed him, wc 
v.ill have fresh meat in our camp to- 
night,” and started towards the bull, iu- 
t:'ading to cut his tl;roat as soon as i)os- 
sible. Ii was ih''n discovered wo had each 
Icilled one, having s’.mt at the same mo- 
ment, I'.either knowing ihc oth^r had 
shot, and each supposing t’m other was 
ciaiming his elk. iUeanwhile herd 
b.a:l gnn-' u i ike st '>p momitaiii side with 
iiuredii)!'' ;-:wift”‘'w. Swartout. feeling 
tired, .saiii im would stay and dress th-' 
two slain animals; hut 7 wu.i bound to 
liave the antlers ef ono of the big Imlls 
and s'arted in )iursnit of the band that 
had headed for one of the highest jieaks. 
I T. was an easy matter to follow the trail 
and I walked as fast,^ as I could. It 
v.as terribly hot work climbing the 
mountain on the run, and 1 soon dis- 
carded my coat and threw open my flan- 
nel shirt at the, neck. ,Wet with perspi- 
ration and nearly exhausted I cautiously 
approached a small park tliat was nearly 
a mile high. Peering through the bushes 
I could see that, as 1 had hoped, the elk, 
well over their fright, had stopr>od and 
resumed feeding. A heavy cloud envel- 
oped the mountain-top and it commenced 
to snow. Creeping softly forward I finally 
reached a clump of bushes, from behind 
which I could see a numlier of the elk, 
some within short rifle shot. 
I knew at least one bull was with the 
hA'd, for I could hear him whistling. Tho 
fog by this time enveloped everything, 
and though very near, I could not get 
sight of the bull. 
I •was getting cold, wet and over- 
heated as I had been, this sudden halt 
on the mountain top, in fog and sno'w', 
was chilling me through and' through. 
My teeth began to chatter so loudly that 
I thought the elk must hear the strange 
noise and stampede; but thew didn’t. Cot\' 
after cow passed at close range, but the 
hull never came in sight. For nearly an 
hour I maintained my cramped position, 
tv'hen I heard a cautious whistle coming 
up the mountain-side, nearer and nearer. 
I kne'w it ■e\’as pick, in search of me 
and giving our signal Avhistlc. I dared 
not reply or move I w'as so close to the 
elk, and co\ild only hope' his whistle 
would crack or that he would give up the 
search and go hack to camp; -hut there 
was no such kick in store for me. On he 
came, repeating his ca!l every few min- 
utes, and my chance for getting a fine 
i:air of antlers w.as fast being ruined. 
Finally I saw- the elk nearest me prick 
up their cars and listen. ThtU' bad caught 
the strange sound, 'rhen the bull gave 
a shrill whistle. He had scented danger, 
had sounded tho alarm for a’ stampede, 
and in a moment they were crashing 
throti.gh the bushes and out of sight. 
The jig was up for that day and T was 
free to answer Dick’s call. Crestfallen 
and frozen I crawled fgqni' cover and 
soon met my solicitous friend. To add to 
my woe. in 20 niinute.s thvi fog lifted, ex- 
posing the whole mountain to view, and I 
would have had ah easy shot, tt'earily we 
dragged ourselves back to camp, which 
wo reached long after dark, and vouM 
have had to spend (ho nigl'.t i:i the woods, 
in the rain, hut for Spaulding hearing onr 
signal-'=hots and coming to onr relief with 
n lantern. 
When Jones heard we had .found this 
band of elk he was angry. He evidently 
looked upon them ns his own property. 
