272 
WILD NORWAY. 
woodcraft that is written in spoor . The art of spooring 
cannot be learnt in a year—nor in two, nor ten. I 
question if any English hunter fully understands its 
bearings as do the Norsk woodmen, practised from 
boyhood. True craftsmen, such as our friends on the 
Divide, going through a wood, will tell you, when you 
come out, its elk-story for a week past, and more. You 
think your hunter pays scant attention to his dog—he 
sometimes seems to ignore him. Yes : but that hunter 
knows more than his dog ; for he knows not only all 
the dog has discovered and is telling him, but also, 
beyond that, all that he himself can read in spoor, and 
that the dog cannot read. 
In power of nose, dog and elk appear about equal. 
Under the most favourable conditions, either will scent 
the other (or elk, man) up to three miles. To fresh 
spoor , a good dog will often draw a mile. This is 
almost too good, since one cannot be sure whether the 
dog is really drawing direct on game, or only on fresh 
spoor of game. Should it prove to be the latter, there is 
great risk that your dogs splendid nose may already 
have placed you to windward of the back-trending elk. 
The dense forest is the home of the elk ; the thickly- 
growing spruce and birch-grove his protection. In 
a smoke-grey coat precisely assimilating to the forest- 
shades, even his huge bulk is often well-nigh invisible, 
though, it may be, in full view and within fifty yards. 
But for these natural protections the giant deer could 
hardly survive. The utmost acuteness in those senses of 
scent and hearing—with his great hollowed horns acting 
as sounding-boards—would not otherwise compensate 
for visual deficiencies. Take him outside the forest, find 
