HUNTING
THE
ELK
BY
THEODORE EOOSEVELT
Copyrlrrht, IHS, by O. P. Putnam's Sons.
PubllBlied under arranrnment with O. P.
rulnam i Bona, Nuw York and I-ondon
XE ilay Morrlfleld and I
went out together anil
hud b rather excltln
dinse after Home bull elk.
The prerloti evening, to
ward Biiuupt, I had seen
three bull trotting off
across an open glade toward n great
stretch of forest and broken ground,
up near the foot of the rocky peaks.
Next morning early we started off to
hunt through this country. The walk
ing was hard work, especially up and
down the steep cliffs, covered with slip
pery pine needles; or among the wind-
Soon the venison itttiht uer broiling.
falls, where the rows of dead trees lay
piled up across one another In the
wildest confusion. We saw nothing
until we came to a largo patch of burnt
ground, where we at once found the
oft, black soil marked up by elk hoofs;
nor had we penetrated Into It more
thnn a few hundred yards before we
caine to tracks made but a few min
utes before, and almost Instantly after
ward saw three bull elk, probably
those I had aeeu on the precedlug day.
We had been running briskly up bill
through the soft, beary loam. In which
our feet made no noise, but slipped and
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o
sank deeply; as a consequence, 1 was
all out of breath and my hand bo un
steady that I missed my first shot
Elk, however, do not vanish with
the Instantaneous rapidity of fright
ened deer, and these three trotted off
In a direction quartering to us. I doubt
If I ever went through more violent
exertion than In the next ten min
utes. We raced after them at full
apeed, opening Are; I wounded all
three, but none of the wounds were
Immediately disabling. They trotted
on and we panted afterwards, slipping
on the wet earth, pitching headlong
over charred stumps, leaping on dead
logs thut broke beneath our weight,
more than once measuring our full
length on the ground, halting and fir
ing whenever we got a chance. At
last one bull fell; we passed him by
after the others which were still run
ning up-hill. The sweat streamed Into
my eyes and made furrows In the
sooty mud that covered my face, from
having fallen full length down on the
burnt earth; I sobbed for breath as
I toiled at a shambling trot after them,
as nearly done out as could well be.
At this moment they turned down-hill.
It was a great rellof; a man who Is
too done up to go a steep up-hill can
still run fast enough down; with a last
spurt I closed In near enough to fire
again; one elk fell; the other went off
at a wulk. We passed the second elk
and I kept on alone after the third,
not able to go at more than a slow trot
myself, and too much winded to dare
risk a shot at any distance. He got
out of the burnt patch, going into some
thick timber In a deep ravine; I closed
pretty well, and rushed after him into
a thicket of young evergreens. Hardly
was I in when there was a scramble
and bounce among them and I caught
a glimpse of a yellow body moving out
to one side; I ran out toward the edge
and fired through the twigs at the
moving beast. Down It went, but
when I ran up, to my disgust I found
that I had jumped and killed. In my
haste, a black-tall deer, which mast
have been already roused by the pas
sage of the wounded elk. I at once
took up the trail of the latter again,
but after a little while the blood grew
less, and ceased, and I lost the track;
nor could I find It, hunt as bard as I
might The poor beast could not have
gone five hundred yards; yet we never
found the carcass.
Then I walked alowly back past the
deer I had slain by so curious a mis
chance, to the elk. The first one shot
down was already dead. The second
was only wounded, though It could not
rise. When it saw us coming it seught
to hide from us by laylag Its neck flat
on the ground, but when we came up
close It raised Irs bead and looked
proudly at us, the heavy inane bris
tling up on the neck, while Its eyes
glared and lta teeth grated together.
I felt really sorry to kill It Though
these were both well-known elks, tbelr
antlers, of tea points were small,
twisted, and lll-shapednu fact hardly
worth preNervlng, except to call to
mind a chase in which during a few
minutes 1 did as much downright hard
work as It has often fallen to my lot
to do. The burnt earth had blackened
our faces and hands till we looked like
negroes.
The finest bull, with the best head
that I got was killed In the midst of
very beautiful and grand surroundings.
We. bad tu-ea hunting through a great
pine wood which ran up to the edge
of a broad canyon-like valley, bounded
by sheer walls of rock. There were
fresh tracks of elk about and we had
been advancing up wind with even
more than our usual caution when, on
stewliig out Into a patch of open
ground, near the edge ef the cliff, we
came upon a great bull, beating and
thrashtug his antler agalnat a young
tree, about eighty yards off. II
stopped and faced us for a second, bis
mighty antlers thrown In the air, as he
held his head aloft Itchlnd him tow
ered the tall and sombre pines, while
at his feet the Jutting crags overhung
the ibvp chasm below, that stretched
off botweeu high walls of barren and
snow-streaked rocks, the evergreens
clingtru; to their sldex, while along the
bottom the rapid torrent gathered In
place into black and sullen mountain
likes. As the boll turned to run I
struck him Just behind the shoulder;
he reeled to the death-blow, but stag
gered gamely on a few rods Into the
foreitt lefore sinking to the ground,
with my second bullet through his
lungs.
Two or three days later titan thut I
killed another bull, nearly as large. In
the same patch of woods In which I
had slain the first A bear had been
feeding on the carcass of the latter,
and, after a vain effort to find Ills den,
we determined to beat through the
woods and try to start him up. Ac
cordingly, Merrltlcld. the teamster, and
myself took parallel courses some three
hundred junta apart, ami started at
one end to walk through to the other.
I doubt If the teamster much wished to
meet a bear alone (while nothing would
have given Merrlrteld more hearty and
unaffected eujoyment than to have en
countered an entire family;, and he
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gradually edged In pretty close to me.
Where the woods became pretty open
I saw him suddenly lift his rifle and
fire, and immediately afterwards a
splendid bull elk trotted past in front
of me. evidently untouched, the team
ster having missed. The elk ran to
the other side of two trees that stood
close together some seventy yards off.
and stopped for a moment to look
round. Kneeling down I fired at the
only part of his body I could see be
tween the two trees, and sent a bullet
Into bis flank. Away he went and I
after, running In my moccasins over
the moss and pine needles for all there
was In me. If a wounded elk gets
fairly started he will go at a measured
trot for many hours, and even If mor
tally hurt may run twenty miles be
fore falling: while at the same time
he does not start off at full speed, and
will often give an active hunter a
chance for another shot as he turns
and changi-s his course preparatory to
taking a straight line. 80 I raced along
after the elk at my very best speed for
a few hundred feet, and then got an
other shot os he went across a little
glade. Injuring his hip somewhat Tbts
made It all right for me. and auother
hundred yards' burst took me up to
where I was able to put a ball In a
fatal spot, and the grand old fellow
sank down and fell over on his side.
No sportsman can ever feel much
keener pleasure and self-satisfaction
than when, after a successful stalk
and good shot, he walks up to a grand
elk lying dead In the cool shade of
the great evergreens, and looks at the
massive and yet finely moulded form,
aud at the mighty antlers which nre
to serve In the future as the trophy
and proof of his successful skill. Still
hunting the.elk on the mountains is as
noble a kind of sport as can well be
imagined; there Is nothing more pleas
ant and enjoyable, and at the same
time It demands that the hunter shall
bring Into play many manly qualities.
There bave been few duys of my hunt
ing life that were so full of unalloyed
happiness as were those spent on the
Bighorn range. From morning till
night I waa on foot, in cool, bracing
air, now moving silently through the
vast melancholy pine forests, now
treading the brink of high, rocky prec
ipices, always amid the moat grand
and beautiful scenery; aud always
after as noble and lordly game as la to
be found In the Western world.
Blnce writing the above I killed an
elk near my ranch: probably the last
of bis race that will ever be found in
our neighborhood. It waa just before
the fall round-up. An old hunter, who
was under some obligation to me. told
me that he had shot a cow elk and
bad seen the tracks of one or two
others not more than twenty-Ave mile
off, in a place where the cattle rarely
wandered. Such a chance was not to
be neglected and. on the first free day,
one of my Elk-born foremen, Will Dow
by name, and myself, took our hunt
ing horses and atarted off, accompa
nied by the ranch wagon. In the direc
tion of the probable haunts of the
doomed deer. Towards nightfall we
truck a deep spring pool, near by the
remains of an old Indian encampment
It was at the head of a great basin,
several miles across. In which we be
lieved the game to He. The wagon
was halted and we pitched camp; there
was plenty of dead wood, and soon
the venison stenks were broiling over
the coals raked from beneath the
crackling cottonwood logs, while In
the narrow valley the ponies grazed
almost within the circle of the flicker
ing flre-llght. It was in the cool and
pleasant month of September; and
long after going to bed we lay awake
under the blankets watching the stars
that on clear nights always shine with
such Intense brightness over the lonely
Western plains.
We were up and off by the gray of
the morning. It was a beautiful hunt-
Then ion i nmli urn! tnotvtncnt In the
WmiKT U'lOU' file.
lug day; the sundogs hung in the red
dawn; the wind hardly stirred over
the crisp grass; aud though the sky
was cloudless yet the weather had that
queer, smoky, hazy look that It Is most
apt to take on during the time of the
Indian summer. From a high spur of
the table-land we looked out far and
wide over a great stretch of brokeu
country, the brown of whose hills aud
Talleys was varied everywhere by
patches of dull ml and vivid yellow,
tokens that the trees were already put
ting on the dress with which they
" rftON. KOVEEEMK
greet the mortal ripening of the year.
The deep and narrow but smooth ra
vines runulug up towards the edges
of the plateaus were heavily wooded,
the bright green tree-tops rising to
a height tbey rarely reach in the bar
ren plains-country; and the rocky
sides of the sheer gorges were clad
with a thick growth of dwarfed cedars,
while here and there the trailing Vir
ginia creepers burned crimson among
their sombre musses.
We hunted stealthily up-wiud. across
the line of the heavily timbered eou
lies. We soon saw traces of our
quarry; old tracks at first, then the
fresh footprints of a single elk-a bull.
Judging by the slze-whlch had come
down to drink at a mirey alkali pool,
its feet slipping so as to leave the
marks of the false boofs In the soft
soil. We hunted wlrh pulnstaklug and
noiseless care for many nours; at iui
as I led old Manltou up to look over
the edge of a narrow ravine, there was
a crash and movement In the tltnoer
below me. nnd Immediately afterwards
I caught a gllmpMe of a great bull elk
trotting up through the young trees as
he gallantly breasted the steep uui-siue
opposite. When clear of the woous.
and directly across the valley trom me,
he Rtopped and turned half round,
throwing his head In the air to gaze
for a moment at the Intruder. My uui
i .mirk ton far back. but. neverthe
less, made a deadly wound, and the elk
went over the crest or tne nui at
o-ii.i nloneine eallon. We followed
the bloody trail for a quarter of a
mile, and found him dead in a tnicheu
Though of large size, he yet had but
Kinnll antlers, with few points.
A Deceptive Attitude.
A scene that was more than farcical,
declares M. A. l. occurred in tho house
of commons lust season. Two of the
most respectable members of the bouse
were seen with their coats off aud with
a staid old policeman standing between
them. They two had been dowustalrs
to wssh their hands and by some mis
chance bad changed coats. They went
Into the house together. Oue of them,
putting his hand Into his coat pocket,
pulled out an old brier pipe of very
strong flavor. It was not bis.
He looked at the coat, also that of
bis neighbor, aud, turning to his friend,
aald: '
"Excuse me. but I think you bave put
on my coat"
"I beg" your pardou. I have done
nothing of the kind."
"I think." replied the other member,
'this Is your pipe, and if you put your
band Into the right hand pocket of the
coat you are wearing yon will find a
cigar case."
"Pear me!" was the reply. "You cer
tainly are right. What shall we doT'
"We cannot change in the bouse." ob
served the first member. "Let us go
Into the division lobby."
Here Is where the policeman came in.
Seeing the two facing each other and
at the same time taking off their coats,
the policeman feared the worst He
rushed up and. placing a hand on the
shoulder of each, said:
"Ontlemen! Gentlemen! Not here,
please!"
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