The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-01
LORDL|EsT Of ITS KIND.
theodore Roosevelt Discourses on
the Sport to Be Had Hunt
ing the Elk.
A Monster Bull, and How He Col
leots His Harem About
Him.
rn.orruptiur a Deadly Combat Betwccn
Two Big Fellows by Means OF
Two Bullets.
ryyr;tten for THE HELENA ~INpEpENDENT.1

MI Qa mi AAE Ab-A Il
ryo MY MIND ONE OF THE MOST
N\L attractive sports OF the west Is e's
9l9 hunting. Thu elk used TO be found
over most of the entire United States pus
1t now exists, i'll any numbers, only In the
great mountain chains of the ROCKIES ana
of the coast ranges in Oregon and wash
inpton. 1t il without exception the loro-
Hest of the deer kind, and in size IL second
only to the moose. Nothing can surpass
the grand beauty of an old bull elk bearing
his twelve-tined antlers aloft with easy
grace ma he roars out his challenge to all H.
walls. In some parts of the west afar from
the settlements the elk is still plentiful. ne
offers to the hunter not only the granuess
of trophies in the shape OF his maGhlncant
head and ears, but also an abundant sup
ply Of the best possible meat. There IS no
yenison upon which one can live SO long
without firing as elk meat, the only draw
back being hat it must be eaten hot, as
the fat turns into regular tallow as soon al
it cools. During the summer. while their
horns are in the velvet, no true sportsman
will shoot the elk. nor will he shoot cows
and calves Mt any time, save when abso-
luteIy in need OF meat; but IN September
the velvet drops off his horns and
then each of the master bulls begins TO
collect a hareln of COWS. from i've or
six to twenty or thirty in number. He
keeps all the small bulls afar from this
herd, and wages furioua war against every
rival of the same size and a1tlar grown as
himself. At this season the bull has q very
extraordinary ard peculiar note. Ihe
like a whistle at all; it is more like a bugle,
consisting of a bar or two of music on a
rising scale, and then another bar or two
on q falling scale, followed sometimes by
three or four fute-like notes. 1t IS most
exciting to creep up to Q bull When No Id
whistling in this way.
The first elk I shot in the season of 1891
was obtained in this manner. l was tray
cling with a pack train in the mountains,
riding at the head. 1t was a dark, lower
ing, rainy morning, and we were going
up q small valley with steep, densely
wooded hills on either hand. Suddenly, as
we came out into a. little glade, we heard,
half a mile to our right, the challenge of a
bull elk, speedily answered BY q more DIS
tam note of defiance, evidently from a
rival further up the mountain. l and my
companion, q tall, silent old mounsaln
hunter, instantly slipped of our horses
and began to steal through the woods
toward. the sound. It was a great tam
arack forest, and the ground at our feet
was covered with water-logged moss, so
that it was easy to walk without making a
noise. As silently ms possible we crept on
from tree to tree in the gloom of the
mighty evergreen forest, every minute or
two stopping to listen for the challenge.
The elk was evidently very much excited by
the presence of his rival on the distant
mountainside, and he kept repeating his
into the woods and heard it from afar 1t
sounded most musical, but as we drew
nearer the sound had q harsh ring, which
detracted from it's melody, but which, new
erthelsss, sent a thrill through cur veins.
Nearer and nearer we crept, and each min
~,Aa AkN ~~nr rs $hN nha11arrA 40 NJ hnrrp-
ing down through the woods louder than
before. When we got near enough
to hear the rattle of the great
antlers as the bull savagely thrashed
the young trees and s%aplings. Still nearer
We crept, and from a particularly dense
SO near as to make it sound like the cry of
some ferocious wild bsaat. The old hunter
dropped bshind and raced silently for
ward toward the clump. In another mo-
ment I saw the tops of the great antlers
projecting one on either side of a tree
shirt. which harmonizes so we'll with the
tree trunks that it is difficult for oven the
sharpest eye to distinguish it. For a
moment or two evidently the elk could not
quite see what I was. Stepping to one
side Of the v tree h he Wal walked a. a na couple
stately grace of his kind, his shapely head
and lordIy antlers borne aloft by the great
swelling neck. Then, as he halted, my
bullet took him straight in the chest.
Round he wheeled and started off, and with
the second bullet l hit him in the flank.
Either of the shots was fatal, and after a
thirty yards run the lordly beast staggered,
stopped, fell over on his side and was in
the death struggle as / drew near. In a
minute afterward the old hunter and
were standing admiring his huge body and
beautifully formed, clean brown legs.
0nCa r shat two hnIla wbj1a thav wnra an
gagged in deadly combat with each other.
had been lying out in a high alpine valley
over night with a companion. We had nc
blankets with us, nothing but our Jackets
n which We had slepts by the side of the
fire all night. Before dawn we were off
threading our way through the cool din
archways of the pine forest, and just a
sunrise we heard. half a mile in our front
the CHATTER of horns and the savage squal
ing which marks an elk fight. Stealing W
softly We we're soon within 125 yards o
the combatants, two powerful and event,
matched bulls. They fought by charg
ing each other like rams, the shoe
being tremendous as the great beasts, with
bristling hair, flashing eyes, and lowere,
horns, crashed together. Once the antler
were interlocked. each stroye by shee
strength and address to force his opponeu
back, and they stood for minutes ~straininI
with their launches gathered under them
suuealing fercely at times; then they woult
separate, retiring some little distance
fronting each other with glarlng eyes, an.
again come together. The great object o
each was to catch the other in the flank
The hair and hide on the neck and shout
ders of the wapiti, as this elk is more prop
erly called, offer q nearly impeuetrabl,
shield; bat the skin is softer on the fan
and launches and almost the only seriou
damage that ID ever done in a fight is whel
the victor is able to catch the weaker AMI
NAL in the flank as he turns, or oyertak
and punish him about the rump u
he hees. l have never known Il hor
to go through the hide around til
neck, although after a conflict the fiss
will show great bruises there under th
skin. In this particular instance, how
ever, I interrupted the conflict long befor
it had time to come to a fatal conclusion
killing both combatants; one by r shot j
the shoulder as they wrestled together, an
the other by a bullet in the flank as it raj
We had had no breakfast that morning, AL
the first thing we did was to cut out a str
of steak from alongside the loina, build
fire. and roast on willow twigs little kabol
of luscious meat.
II taken in the open, an elk can be- m
down. by q good horse. / have mover IN,
self tried the experiment, but three yea
sgo, near my ranch, a cowboy with who
have often worked on roundups, pc
formed the feat. He was on the roundy
and was driving some cattle out of u brus
patch at the bottom of Il conlee when I
elk spranR up directly ahead of him al