ELK HUNTING 
F AR away up at the head waters of the Namsen lies a tangled 
chain of mountains, culminating in the great range which forms 
the natural barrier and watershed between the countries of 
Norway and Sweden; and here in this wilderness of flood and 
fell Nature has provided a perfect home for the wild animals by 
which it is inhabited. Great forests but seldom disturbed save 
by the woodcutter’s axe afford a secure retreat for the largest and in 
many respects the most interesting of European game, the Scandinavian 
elk. Rushing streams intersect every valley, and little lakes and tarns 
by the side of which the great deer come to browse dot the surface of the 
upland corries. Above the timber the stunted birch region, much resorted 
to by elk in dry seasons, extends over a far greater area than in other 
parts of Norway, and consequently the hunter who follows the chase in 
these semi -arctic regions has the additional pleasure of true open -ground 
stalking when still weather has for the nonce put a stop to hunting in the 
timber. 
Amongst English sportsmen the prevalent idea is that the elk is nearly 
always hunted and killed in or about the forests by means of the los, or 
bindhund. So it is in nearly every part of Norway and Sweden; but that 
he may be spied, stalked, and shot after the manner of other hill -deer 
which live almost entirely in open ground I know from personal experi- 
ence. Elk, especially old bulls, are as prone to resort to the open fjelds as 
any other member of their genus, provided the weather be fine and still, 
the favourite food within fairly easy reach, and the high mountains to 
which they resort undisturbed by movements of flocks or trekking 
reindeer. Out of five bulls killed by myself during 1899 four were spied 
and shot in perfectly open ground above the great forests. 
My friend, Mr E. N. Buxton, in his excellent book, “ Short Stalks,” 
seems surprised that the Scandinavian elk has received so little atten- 
tion at the hands of that ubiquitous creature, the British sportsman. 
The reasons are not, I think, far to seek. There are very few really first- 
class elk grounds in either Sweden or Norway, and, owing to the sub- 
division of these grounds amongst various owners, it is not easy to secure 
so large a tract of country as is necessary for the full enjoyment of the 
sport. To say nothing, too, of the hard work of the chase and the patience 
necessary to success, really good local hunters are very scarce, and the 
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