Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-05-23
THE AMERICAN ELK.

The Wild and Domestcated Species, with a
Reference to a Port Huron Team,
The April number of Outing is full of
breezy sketches of sport travel and rec
reation and t1lly sustains the reputation
which it has so rapidly built up. 1t is as
possible for a paper devoted to the pleas
ures of the field and flood to be too tech
nical for ordinary sppre citation as if it
were devoted TO evolution or Psychology,
but the articles published in this maya
zine are of general interest and its stories
of ex perience with gun and rod give al
most as much pleasure to the reader who
never threw a fly or pulled trigger as TO
one of our modern n'mrods or Waltons.
Here is a bit from paper on 1.-THE Amer
loan En-" by the late Brighten. X. b.
Marcy, United States army, which has an
interesting local coloring:
In regard to the elk Judge Cation very
properly says; "The elk can be easily
domesticated," put adds ''thst he never
heard of one being trained to the hairless,
as formerly was often the case in Scandi-
navia." The experiment of training them
WAS often attempted in the vicinity of
Fort Gratiot, about the time | was there,
with some success. In several instances
they were broken to the halter, SO that
they coGld be led without difficulty. One
man even succeeded in training a full
grown bull to harness, and drove him to
3 sleigh for g time. But one day he
stopped IN front of q tavern IN Port
Huron and, leaving his wapiti without ty
ing, entered the house, presumably to get
a drink. just then dog happened TO
come along, and, seeing the strange turn
ont, went for 1t. This terrified the elk so
much that he jumped fence, with the
sleigh at his heels, aud started of at full
speed for the woods. When the runaway
was caught there were few remnents of
the harness hanging to him, but nothing
was ever found OF the vehicle. DO not
remember that elk transportation was re-
sorted TO again during that winter in that
particular neighborhood.
About this time my Chippewa friend,
Pr to wan q uad, brought me young calf
elk, which we Kept until he was about
| half-Qrown. For some time he would
take no other food but milk, and even
that he would not touch unless it WAS sd-
ministered TO him from bottle. When,
| however, the nose of the bottle WAS put
| into his mouth he would swallow the con-
| tents hmOSb rs quiChig 90 ~ ONN'o nav
| been discharged from gun. He was
very docile and came into the house when
ever he desired. His fsvorite habit was
to lie on rug before our sitting room
| fire; and sometimes when be observed
| that the dinner was being put upon the
table he would quietly help himself, If not
| prevented He was fond OF playing with
the children, aud seemed quite harmless
uutil one day he took it into his head 70
strike at one with his sharp fore feet, bot
fortunately did not hit the child. There
upon | gave him TO neighbor, who hso
an ipolosure with high fence round IT
ABOUT 600 feet from the fort, and there h
was confined and remained for severs
months. One Gay someone by accident
left the gate open, and the elk made hli
escape, and came running at full speed
and, charging through the gate into th'
parade ground, made directly for N.
quarters, into my sitting room, and de
liberately laid himself down upon hi
favorite rug, As he had often done month
before hsd him taken back to the IN
closure, but he repeated the same thin.
whenever he could get out afterward.