’) 

Nov. 23, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 




NATUIRAIL EDISTO 





A Bull Elk Fight. 
3ANFF SprinGs Horer, ALBerta, Canada, Sept. 
15.—Editor Forest and Stream: As is very gen- 
erally known, the National Park of Canada is 
| located here at Banff, and not very far from 
co Ee 
7 


| thrust his horns into the other’s side. 
| the town are large fenced areas of vall€y and 
mountainside, in which are enclosed buffalo, 
moose, elk and deer. There are also a number 
of large cages, in which are confined bears, 
mountain lions, wolves, lynxes, wildcats and 
other animals. The buffalo herd at Banff is 
large, numbering, I believe, about eighty—all 
the increase from a little herd of three or four 
sent to Banff many years ago. Only two, I 
believe, have died: in all this time, both lost 
through accident. 
I have just witnessed an extraordinary bat- 
tle in one of the enclosures of the park, and 
my purpose in writing is to give you a brief 
account of it. 
Yesterday afternoon my cousin and I were 
on our way back from the buffalo range, when, 
as we were riding along the road, we saw a 
man standing near the fence looking through 
it into the enclosure for the moose and elk, 
and evidently very much interested in what he 
saw. We stopped to see what he was looking 
at, and when we reached the point where we 
could see, there, not six feet from the fence, 
was a huge bull elk. Not far from the bull, 
but partly hidden by the bushes, were sever,l 
cows. 
The bull was walking up and down whistling, 
screaming and making a number of very ex- 
traordinary roises. He was greatly excited, 
and his eyes were staring and _ bloodshot. 
Presently we noticed that every time he whis- 
tled, another whistle answered in the distance, 
and. that this whistle kept growing louder. It 
came nearer and nearer, until we could hear 
| some animal crashing through the bushes, and 
a moment later another huge bull elk walked 
out into the little opening. 
The one near the fence rushed toward the 
newcomer, which at first had no courage to 
await the charge. The first bull did not fol- 
low him far, but came back and continued to 
walk up and down whistling, and presently, the 
other bull returned, when he was again 
charged, and again ran away. This happened 
three times, and then the newcomer seemed 
to screw his courage to the fighting point, and 
the two charged each other and came together 
at a run, their antlers clashing loudly as they 
met. The man who had been watching them 
took out his watch and timed them, and for 
thirty-five minutes they fought with great fury. 
They seemed very evenly matched, and for 
the most part simply pushed head to head, 
though once or twice one pushed the other 
back a little way or twisted him about in the 
effort to reach a point from which he could 
When 
this happened, the one that was being turned, 
would jump nimbly_back, and get a fresh grip 
| with his horns. 
Not long after the fight began, an interested 
spectator appeared on the scene in the shape 
of a young bull. He came out of the bushes, 
and stood watching the battle, but every time 
the fighting pair worked over toward him, the 
young bull turned and trotted off. 
The fight was the most thrilling\thing I ever 
saw, and it seemed hardly five minutes before 
one of the two was tired out. He,jumped back, 
turned and tried to run away, but slipped a lit- 
tle, and in a second the other had knocked him 
down with his horns. I saw the conqueror 
jump on the victim, and we started for the 
keeper. When we returned with him, we found 
that the victor had gone away, and the other 
was lying dying on the ground. A point of 
the antler had passed through his windpipe. 
We rode on a little further, and saw/the vic- 
torious elk standing in an open space with 
the cows. He was*panting hard, his antlers 
were covered with blood, and the prong of 
one of them was broken. His mouth was 
open, his tongue hanging out, and his eyes, 
were bloodshot. He presented quite a horrible 
appearance. He was wild with rage, and as 
soon as he saw us he rushed toward us, but 
brought up against the fence. Then he would 
retire and charge the fence again and again. 
Once when the young bull put his head out of 
the bushes, the big bull dashed after him and 
chased him away. 
1 have often heard, of elk and deer fighting, 
but I never expected to see such a sight as 

this. H. Martin. 
A Wild Pigeon Fake. 
New F orence, Pa., Nov. 12.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: In the Pittsburg Dispatch of 
Nov. 5 appeared the following special tele- 
gram, which I regarded as highly important, 
1i true: 
SWARMS OF PIGEONS ATTACKED BY 
WEST VIRGINIA. 
MEN IN 
FEATHERED INVADERS ARE KILLED BY THE HUN- 
DREDS—First CASE FOR TWENTY YEARS, 

Special Telegram to The Dispatch, 
WessTerR, W. Va., Nov. 4.—A swarm of 5,000 
wild pigeons settled over this section yester- 
day, and before they were driven off hundreds 
of them had been killed by the farmers and 
other citizens attracted by the unusual spec- 
tacle—one that has not been witnessed in West 
Virginia before for twenty-five years. 
The pigeons were flying low, and were evi- 
dently foraging. Settling on the limbs of 
trees in large numbers, in many instances their 
weight broke the limbs. One tree, a big fel- 
low, was literally stripped of its branches, all 
that remained being the trunk and here and 
there a broken branch. 
Several attacks were made by the citizens 
on the birds, pigeon pie being considered a 
delectable dish in this section, and hundreds 
of the feathered invaders were killed. 
To-day the last vestige of the unlooked-for 
visitors had vanished. All that remained was 
the taste of wild pigeon pie and hope for more 
to come. 
This seemed to me such good news—still if 
true—that I wrote to more than one person 
about it, and among them to the postmaster 
at Webster, W. Va. Here is his reply: 
WessterR, W. Va., Nov. 8, ’07. 
“In regard to the pigeon rumor, will say I 
know nothing of the statement given. I think 
it incorrect. tbe LR aa ee 
So perishes another hope. 
The country about Webster and east thereof, 
including what used to be known as Hoy’s 
Wilderness, was at one time a great roostine 
and nesting ground for wild pigeons, and I 
have seen quite large tracts of timber in the 
above-mentioned districts in which a great 
many trees had the limbs broken off from the 
weight of the pigeons alighting on them. 
I think, without any exaggeration, that dur- 
ing one hunt in the fall of 1878 in Hoy’s Wild- 
erness I saw flocks of wild pigeons that num- 
bered hundreds of thousands. On taking flight 
the roar of their wings was like thunder, and 
the whole country seemed alive with them. I 
killed my last wild pigeon in 1883 along the 
foot of Chestnut Ridge, Fayette county, Pa., 
and in 1882 killed quite a number from scat- 
tered flocks in the same district. It was dur- 
ing the fall, and they were feeding on pin oak 
acorns. 
But they are gone, just as the bison has 
gone, and from all indications, never to return. 
Jee. 
Mr. Wm. B. Mershon, of Saginaw, Mich., has 
also sent a copy of this yarn, and says: 
“This is another of the sea serpent stories 
that so regularly have appeared. The flight must 
have been tremendous to crush down the forest 
growth in this way. I think instead of using the 
birds for potpie, the farmers could have more 
profitably disposed of them for scientific speci- 
mens. I know I would be very glad to pay a 
good many dollars for a good fresh specimen of 
the passenger pigeon. 
“All of the birds that Prof. Whitman, of Chi- 
cago, had in confinement are now dead. There 
are two males still left of the Whittaker flock 
in St. Louis, and I hear there are a few live 
birds in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens, but 
I am not certain.” 
Oberlander’s Buffalo Hunt. 
YELLOWSTONE Park, Wyo., Oct. 28.—Editor 
Forest and Stream: The little herd of buffalo 
in the Yellowstone Park has lost two of its finest 
specimens in a manner that should call forth 
the denunciation of every lover of legitimate 
sport the world over. 
Last spring the younger members of the herd 
were removed from the pasture near Fort Yel- 
lowstone to a new one on Rose Creek. A short 
time since the remainder were also taken to 
Rose Creek, with the exception of the big bull 
and a smaller one, who refused to be driven 
from their old home. These two were offered 
for sale, and Howard Eaton, who had a 
foreigner named Oberlander out on a hunting 
trip in the Jackson Hole country, bought or 
traded for the bulls and sold them to Ober- 
lander, who was granted the privilege of killing 
them in the Park. 
Sunday morning i 
double-barrel .375 Express with telescopic 
sights, went to the pasture accompanied by 
Eaton and several of his men and a number of 
civilians and troopers of the Eighth Cavalry. 
The big bull was but a short distance trom 
the gate. The valorous hunter entered with 
evident trepidation, approached within fiity 
yards of the animal, which stood broadside on; 
dropped on one knee, adjusted the sight, and 
in his nervousness discharged both barrels. 
The express bullet or bullets struck some 
distance back of the heart but inflicted a terrible 
wound. The bull commenced to walk around, 
coughing blood which gushed from nostrils and 
mouth. As he started, the hunter fled,. and 
forgetting the gate, made his exit through the 
wires of the fence. In a moment or two the 
bull lay down, and Oberlander then approached 
his dying victim to photograph it. At his ap- 
proach the bull rose to its feet. The kodak 
was exchanged for the big rifle, a kneeling 
position taken and another shot fired, the bullet 
struck in the middle of the shoulder. In a few 
moments the hunter fired again and the monarch 
of the herd sank down to his last sleep. 
Eaton, and his German employer, then went on 
in the inclosure to where the second bull was 
feeding, where the same scene was repeated; 
three shots at close range being required to 
kill. 
The heads were skinned out 
some taxidermist to be mounted, and sent 
abroad as trophies of the valor of the “hunter, 
who told of having hunted big game in South 
Africa, though admitting that he shot his lion 
after it had been trapped. sane 

Oberlander, carrying his 
and shipped to 

