ELK-HUNTING IN NAMDALEN. 
233 
conditions, have preserved his giant personality till near 
the dawn of the twentieth century. 
The second point is the apparent apathy with which 
elk receive an attack—or it would be more correct to 
say. their apparent tardiness in realizing the point and 
source of danger. Thus the white bull pulled up and 
stood deliberating within seventy yards, immediately 
after I had fired three shots into his companion. But 
such incidents, it must be remembered, invariably occur 
amidst crags and high ground where echoes confuse the 
senses, and the roar of wind and waterfalls drowns 
minor sounds. It cannot, therefore, be deduced that 
the elk is lacking in wit or wile—quite the reverse. 
I have seen wild reindeer equally at fault, and only 
a few weeks later had a similar experience with a red 
stag, and that on level ground. It was, however, 
blowing hard, with heavy rain. I missed this deer, 
crossing a narrow glade among thick forest, at about 
eighty yards. He stopped short in the tiny opening, 
facing the other way . A second shot as he stood, stern 
on, dropped him dead. 
In big-game shooting, especially in stalking and 
still-hunting—but the same applies, though in less 
degree, to driven game—it is a mistake to assume that 
the first shot fired must be the most effective, or that it 
necessarily prejudices the chance of third, fourth, or 
even fifth bullets. It is the impulsive sportsman who 
prejudices his own chances by prematurely showing in 
sight under a false impression that the game is already 
disturbed. Disturbed it is, no doubt, but the exact 
point of danger may not yet have been disclosed ; and 
I would urge on young riflemen the expediency of 
