The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-12-16
FOLLOWING The ELK.
A Days Hunting of the AntIered Monarch
Among the Colorado MnuntnIns.

eHe teiueriOOu, unts Une seCOnu Ru1ue |
all listened intently, and there fcn |
softly from some far height through |
the still mountain air an oft-repeated |
whistling call. 1t meant nothing to |
the tenderfoot, but both guides ex-
claimed "Ellsv' "There, up yonder'' |
said one of the guides, pointing to q
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 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
1t still lacked more than an hour of
sunrise, and one of the guides had to
be dispatched down the valley to it's
sole farmhouse in search of supplies.
1t 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
roclS-crowned peaks and far tree-clad
or grassy valleys were unveiled to the
ft.nN al t,
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
1 that winged aerial foe; sometimes q
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. 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 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 droveE
/ that may number forty or fifty. 1t is
not uncommon for single great bull
to lead a polygamous family of fifteen
or twenty cows, with half a dozen
younger bulls hanging about the edge
of the cowry. The head of this strange
household 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 mad rush for the
valleys where the nearest stream flows
He strikes with his great horns the
flank of the first COW that stands in hi.
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 a.
galloping horses, surefooted as tn,
Andean llama, is one of the most as
tonishing sights of the Rockies.
While the second guide talked softl,
with the tenderfoot of the ells's habit
the first guide, sturdy young black
smith from distant valley, trudge'
some yards ahead. AS things stoo'
thus, he suddenly called in lou,
whisper and beckoned the laggards on
ward with gesture of excitement A
the tenderfoot hastened over the thirt,
or forty yards of snow between him
aelf and the blacksmith, the latte
pointed onward through the pines, an,
: the tenderfoot saw through shor
) vista, for the first time in his life,
5, wild elk free upon his native ground
The great creature loomed large as
big COW, it's branching, massive horn
: extending far along its sides. The ten
derfoot was utterly ont of breath, hal
wild with excitement, and, as he pres
emily learned, the victim of buck fever
Take your shot," said the guide il
whisper denoting suppressed excite
, ment, as he held the straining hound
The tenderfoot raised the Wincheste
= to his shoulder, but the weapon woh
bled as if in the hands of palsie,
man. The guides looked with sort O
! professional horror Still the gun wob
bled and it's owner did not shoot. $50
Gods sake, keep that gun quiet" whis
pered the guide hoarsely. by this tim
all could see dozen more elk movin,
about through the forest, but tn. grea
5 bull still stood in silent contemplation
] of the hunters. The tenderfoot, de
. spairing of himself, knelt down an
Y clasped his shaking weapon har
against his shoulder. Then, dete,
A mined not to be hurried into ba
shot. he watched the trembling muzzl
until it passed across the breast of tn
!. bull. Then he fired. The great creat
ure leaped from his place, and tn
. guide fired at his retreating figure
, Suddenly the woods seemed full of tn
g swift-moving elk. The hunters she
:, and shot again. The dog was now i
IN h,,,, ,t.,,.- Foil i,