Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1894-01-11
FOLLOWING The Elk
Days Hunting OF the Antiered Monarch
Among the Colorado Mountains.

Among the Colorado Mountains,
"llistl" said the guide, suddenly sit
ting bolt upright in his blanket. lie,
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
wbistling call. 1t meant nothing to
the tenderfoot, but both guides ex-
claimed "Elkr' "There, up yonderr'
said one of the guides, pointing to
nigh peak of the Flat Top range now
faintly 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 koutt 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.
IL 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.
IT 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 10
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 d
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 effort
to bring down the bird with stone.
They would have joined in no sucl
noisy sport, nor would they hav'
stopped to prepare their game for tn,
spit had they known that the elk here
#was only five hundred yards away. Ell
in that part of the Rockies go in drove
that may number forty or fifty. 1t i
not uncommon for a single great bull
to lead a polygamous family of fifteel
or twenty cows, with half a dozel
younger bulls hanging about the edg
of the cowry. The head of this strang
household usually keeps his wives il
single file ahead of him, and in thi
fashion they traverse the mountains
When a sudden thirst seizes the grea
bull, he starts with mad rush for tn
valleys where the nearest stream flows
He strikes with his great horns tn
flank of the first COW that stands in hi
way, and thus the whole herd is starte
in headlong gallop down whatevc
rough steep leads to the valley below
This downward fight of the elk hero
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 elk's habit
the first guide, sturdy young black
smith from distant valley, trudge
some yards ahead. AS things stoo
thus, he suddenly called in a lou
whisper and beckoned the laggards or
ward with gesture of excitement. A
the tenderfoot FASTENED over the thirt
or forty yards of snow between hin
aelf and the blacksmith, the latte
pointed onward through the pines, an
the tenderfoot saw through shoi
vista, for the first time in his life,
wild elk free upon his native GROUND
The great creature doomed large as
big COW, its branching, massive horn
extending far along its sides. The tel
derfoot was utterly out of breath, ha
wild with excitement, and, as he pre-
emily learned, the victim of buck feve
Take your shot," said the guide j
whisper denoting suppressed excit
ment, as he held the straining houn,
The tenderfoot raised the Winchest,
TO his shoulder, but the weapon wo1
bled as if in the hands of palsie
man. The guides looked with sort
professional horror. Still the gun wo1
bled and its owner did not shoot, $50
Gods sake, keep that gun quiet" viii
pered the guide hoarsely. BY this tin
all could see a dozen more elk moviu
about through the forest, but the gre;
bull still stood in silent contemplate
of the hunters. The tenderfoot, d
spairing of himself, knelt down an
clasped his shaking weapon hal
against his shoulder. Then, dete
mined not to be hurried into ba
shot, he watched the trembling muzz
until it passed across the breast of tt
bull Then he fred. The great crea
ure leaped from his place, and IL
guide fired at his retreating figur
Suddenly the woods seemed full of Il