THE ELK 
“ After a hunt in Norway,” he writes, “ I was very interested to 
see an elk grazing on level ground, principally because the authorities 
at the British Museum say that these animals cannot do so owing to 
the shortness of their necks. I watched a cow doing this, and afterwards 
she went down on her knees and grazed like a goat.” 
The last-named attitude is common amongst young elk, who frequently 
graze on the ground. The first bull elk I ever saw and shot was engaged 
in eating ferns on the ground when I first saw him and I could give other 
instances in which elk have been seen eating grass in flat places. Neither 
are elk “ essentially ” forest-dwelling animals as Mr Lydekker asserts 
(id., p. 56). In the upper parts of Namdalen and the Swedish frontier the 
best places for elk in September are the open rolling mountains, where 
there are only small patches of willow scrub 2 ft to 5 ft high. Here elk 
live quite in the open for months together in situations very similar to 
those affected by red deer in Scotland. 
Elk are generally to be found in forests of deciduous trees interspersed 
with fir. They seem to affect quite small areas if undisturbed, and range 
over a very limited space of ground in summer and early autumn. It is 
common to find in early September quite a small plantation literally 
covered with the beds of these animals, whilst all the trees of a certain 
size have been broken down or their leaves and small branches destroyed. 
When the hunter finds such a spot and notices the large piles of fresh dung 
he may be sure the pair of elk, that have made this place their home for 
some months, are not far distant. 
Elk are possessed of remarkably good powers of scent and hearing and 
are in consequence very difficult to approach in thick timber. Moreover, 
winds are always volatile and shifty in woods. However carefully the 
hunter creeps in, there is always the danger of meeting fluctuating airs in 
the last 100 yards. Elk, too, choose their resting and feeding grounds with 
just as much skill as other deer and are often found in some hollow or 
angle of a hill to which wind blows from two or more sides. In consequence 
the best “ elking weather ” is during a gale or heavy breeze, alas ! so rare 
in the short shooting season. 
During the winter, from November onwards, elk sometimes assemble 
in small parties of three to eight. I have heard of six bulls being seen 
together, but this must be rare. The snow not being so deep as in Canada, 
European elk do not show much disposition to “ yard,” although they 
keep to places where the snow does not collect. From April until the 
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