News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-04-26
THE ELK OF THE ROCKIES.
A. BIG MONARCH OF THE ELE'
WAITED FOREST SoLITUDES.
His Great Size and Ponderous Ant
lers- An Elk Yard - Dangers
| Which Menace the Elk

HIS OfedC olLe anu IOuuCiou @
lers- An Elk Yard - Dangers
Which Menace the Elk.
A Fort Keogh Montana) correspond
ent of the Ch cago Tins writes: The
largest and most eagerly sought OF all
game animals in the Northwest OF to-
day is that monarch of mountain soli-
tudes and king of elevated forests, the
true Rocky Mountain elk.
Elk in this country grow to an enor-
nous size. The true Rocky Mountain
blue elk has not the webike antlers OF
the moose, but rather the clean cut,
delicate fashioned, handsome headgear
of the mule deer, only on a more ponder
Gus scale. 1t is truly astonishing how
neatly and cleverly these big fellows
handle the fifty to sixty pounds of heavy
weight sproutIng from their heads. 1t
takes five years for the horns TO attain
their full length, but after that the
mension runs all to width, and they
keep on expanding until their broadest
diameter is reached, something like four
teen prongs or branches being produced.
Elk in this latitude average larger in
size than either to the north, south, east
or west of us. The foothilI shrubbery,
high growing plants, ozone OF the at
mosphere, and everything else combined
all tend to give them bodily bulk
which they seem to attain nowhere else
on the known globe. Their ordinary
size, however, is little larger than the
common American horse, with a pro-
gression from the hindquarters up to the
foreshoulders somewhat on the principle
of a giraffe. The extreme length from
nose to tail is from Z to u feet, between
and feet from the foreshOulder to the
ground; weight all the way from $50 to
1880 pounds, an with a head on each
'critter" like barrel. A short neck
and long forelegs prevent these animals
from feeding or browsing on the ground;
so as matter of course an elk must look
high for food. With this their upper
lips are elongated and capable of max
ing decided twist when necessary, so
that they can pu down slender branches
from above, hold the same with the fore
foot, and with the greatest ease strip off
the bark, leaves and twigs.
An experienced woodsman will be able
to follow an elk for miles by closely
observing the trail-not by scanning the
ground in the usual way, but by looking
above among the twigs and branches.
In the Big Horn montains among the
elevated forests of Yellowstone park,
and in fact all through the various spurs
of the Rocky Mountain chain in this
latitude hunters often run across, in
their most isolated places, what are
called e,k-yards.
An elk-yard is a clearing in the woods
where the snow is trodden down within
a certain circular space, and here are
usually to be found father, mother,
and fawHs. A family is seldom more
than the two adults and pair of fawns.
Elk do not by any means breed in ltters,
like some other wild animals we know
of, as the female seldom gives biIth to
more than two fawns in her life, and
these she keeps closely tied to her apron
strings until about the third year. 1t is
a great rarity to meet young elk,
nearly all being of full size when encoun-
tered by hunters, as the youngsters are
kept secreted away in the deepest re-
cesses of a forest until they are presum-
ably old enough to care for themselves.
1t is astonishing how quietly and easily
these bulky quadrupeds can make their
way through dense thickets and
tangled underbrush. Elks may be
decidedly cowardly, but again they
are remarkably cunning, for when
pursued or frightened they quickly
throw their heads backward, resting
their antlers close to the shoulders, and
in this curious position go tearing through
forests and thickets at railroad speed
without ever being caught or impeded in
the slightest degree. 1t is a well known
fact, too, that their stepping powers in
one particular far exceed that of any
biped or quadruped IN existence. When
on the alert they will pass swiftly and
quietly through piece of timber covered
thick with underground or fallen matter
and yet never so much as disturb twig
or rustic leaf in their progress All re-
ports 90 to show that there are this sea-
son in the Yellowstone Park and among
the wild surroundings of the great
national reservation more elk than for
many years previous. In the park proper
thev are positively on the increase. The
saving laws, enacted too late to spare the
bison, were just in time to save the elk,
and in consequence, starting in the park
at the Mammoth hot springs and then
following up the Yellowstone as far as
the lake, after first taking in Mount
Evarts, we find many bands of elk scat
enjoying their lives in peace under the
careful guardianship Of Capt. Harris, of
the lst United States cavalry, who is at
present supervising supreme control over
the 1915 square miles embraced within
this wonderful and charmed region. The
only danger me1acing them now comes
from other dangerous wild animals of
the same locality. sometimes an elk
will get stuck in the snow, and then he
is virtually at the mercy of mountain
lions and wolves, who simply swarm all
through the park.
The operator of telephones relates that
lately while making his rounds through
the park he came suddenly upon one big
fellow at Willow creek, who, in his
fright, sprang out upon an open spot in
the creek, but missing his calculation
sank out of sight in the snow which
rose up in high walls all around him.
The animal finally managed to wallow
out of the snow-trap, and only managed
to make his escape after a considerable
of time and energy. Here
was chance for n nimble. e.footed noun.
tain lion, and no doubt many such cases
occur where the elk must fall victim to
this fierce beast of prey. On the out.
skirts of the park, in the Sweetwater
along Stinkingwater creek,
lmong the Soda Buttes, Hoodoo noun
tains. and to the south and west of the
park proper in the Shoshone region and
he locality of Henry's lake, are also
many bands of elk which are only spared
rom destruction by the territorial laws
,reated for their salvation. Never.
heless it is said that pot-hunters in
galore find their way into these lone
and killing the game,
ale to the public when the penalty period
hall have expired.
Ponar ROtflag