River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-12-21
FOLLOWING The ELK.
Days Hunting of the Antlered Monarch
Among the Colorado Mountains.

Among the Colorado Mountains.
"Hist!' said the guide. suddenly sit
ting bolt upright in his blanket He,
the tenderfoot, and the second guide
all listened intently, and there fell
softly from some far height. through
the still mountain air an oft-repeated
whistling call II meant nothing to
the tenderfoot, but both guides ex-
claimed ELK There, up yonderl''
said one of the guides, pointing to
high peak of the Flat Top range, now
family touched with the tints of COM
ing dawn. The camp where the three
men lay under the stars. their horses
picketed near at hand, was beside the
swift Williams Fork, in a green valley
of Routt county, Col, nearly five thou
sand feet above the sea level The
height, whence fell that mysterious
call, rose snowy and pine-clad two or
three thousand feet higher.
II still lacked more than an hour of
sunrise, and one of the guides had to
be dispatched down the valley to its
sole farmhouse in search of supplies.
II was, therefore. late in the morning
before the tenderfoot and his two
guides were climbing on bronco back
toward the far line of the green timber.
The plan was to go thus far with the
horses, and, leaving them ON the upper
edge of the aspens, to begin the hunt
on foot with the aid of the trained dog,
which was the fourth member of the
party. The green timber, standing in
deep snow and numbered by many
fallen trees, is practically unfit for
horsemen. One after another bare
rock-crowned peaks and far tree-clad
or grassy valleys were unveiled to the
travellers. The tenderfoot, unused
the atmosphere of that high altitude,
found his throat parched and his lips
cracking with thirst long before the
aspens had been passed The green
timber once reached, the hunters cast
the reins over their horses heads and
left the animals standing thus with the
certainty that they could be found
when needed
Then began that weary ascent of the
snow-clad heights. 1t had been agreed
that not even the great sprawling
plantigrade track of the grizzly bear
should draw the hunters aside from
their purpose. Elk was the object of
that expedition, and elk alone should
claim their attention. Sometime an
eagle wheeled overhead; sometimes a
great jack rabbit sped by in terror of
| that winged aerial foe; sometimes a
small herd of deer was seen fastening
westward, bound for the warm fertile
valleys of Utah. the winter quarters of
the Rocky Mountain deer. None of
these things, however, could draw
| from the hunters so much as single
shot. A blue grouse finally rose and
| took shelter in small tree. The blue
| grouse is edible, and the hunters were
short of food; so, fearful of alarming
the elk should they shoot, they man
aged with laughter and many efforts
to bring down the bird with a stone.
They would have joined in no such
noisy sport, nor would they have
stopped to prepare their game for the
| spit had they known that the elk herd
was only five hundred yards away. Elk
in that part of the Rockies go in droves
that may number forty or fifty. 1t is
not uncommon for a single great bull
to lead polygamous family of fifteen
or twenty cows, with half dozen
younger bulls hanging about the edge
of the cowry. The head of this strange
house hold usually keeps his wives in
single file ahead of him, and in this
fashion they traverse the mountains.
| When a sudden thirst seizes the great
bull, he starts with a mad rush for the
valleys where the nearest stream flows.
He strikes with his great horns the
1 8 L. L.
way, and thus the whole herd is started
in headlong gallop down whatever
rough steep leads to the valley below.
This downward fight of the elk herd.
thirty or forty great features, swift as
! galloping horses, surefooted as the
Andean llama, is one of the most as
tonishing sights of the Rockies
| While the second guide talked softly
with the tenderfoot of the elk's habits
the first guide, sturdy young black
smith from a distant valley trudged
some yards ahead. AS things stood
thus, he suddenly called in loud
whisper and beckoned the laggards on
ward with gesture of excitement As
the tenderfoot fastened over the thirty
or forty yards of snow between him
pointed onward through the pines, and
the tenderfoot saw through a short
vista, for the first time in his life, a
wild elk free upon his native ground.
4 The great creature doomed large as a
big COW, it's branching, massive horns
extending far along its sides. The ten
derfoot was utterly out of breath, half
wild with excitement, and, as he pres
emily learned, the victim of buck fever
Take your shot," saiSsthe guide in
a whisper denoting suppressed excite
ment, as he held the straining hound.
The tenderfoot raised the Winchester
to his shoulder, but the weapon wob-
bled as if in the hands of palsied
man. The guides looked with a sort of
professional horror. Still the gun wob-
bled and its owner did not shoot For
Gods sake, keep that gun quiet" wills
pered the guide hoarsely. By this time
all could see a dozen more elk moving
about through the forest. but the great
bull still stood in silent contem pla sion
of the hunters The tenderfoot, de-
spairing of himself, knelt down and
| clasped his shaking weapon hard
| against his shoulder. Then, deter
mined not to be hurried into a bad
shot, he watched the trembling muzzle
until it passed across the breast of the
bull. Then he fired. The great Great
ure leaped from his place, and the
| guide fired at his retreating figure.
| Suddenly the woods seemed full of the
swift-moving elk The hunters shot
and shot again. The dog was now in
full cry, and the hunters followed the
game as rapidly as possible. The whole
herd was plunging heSalong through
the green timber. One bull was hasten
ing off with the dog at his heels. The
dog would seize the fetlock, drop it
and crouch as the great creature
kicked. Finally, the dog, still clinging
to the bulls hind leg. was dragged over
fallen log. AS the bull took his leap
one of the hunters fred, and the elk
fell dead.
The air was now filled with the sound
of the retreating elk as they plunged
through the underbrush. The herd
was rapidly getting out of range, and
I the hunters paused to note what exc
cution they had done. Three elk bulls
lay dead. That which the the tender
foot had first fred at had moved only
| a few feet from his original stand. The
bullet aimed with so much difficulty
mad reached his heart. The guide had
| inflicted only slight wound.
Two of the great antlered heads were