The record-union., 1894-02-16
COLORADO Elk.
Account of Days Hunting in the
Mountains.
The Tenderfoot Sent His Bullet Straight
to the Heart. Though After
a Wobbly Aim.


"Hist!" said the guide. suddenly sit
ting bolt upright in his blankets. The
teuderfoot, q New York Sun man, and
the second guide all listened intently, and
there fell softly from some far hight
through the still mountain air an oft-re-
peated whistling call. 1t meant nothing
to the tenderfoot, but both guides eX-
claimed, ELK ~ "There, up yonder !"
said one of the guides. pointing to high
peak of the Flat Top Range, now family
touched with the tints Of closing 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,
Colorado, nearly 5000 feet above the sea
level. The hight whence fell the mys-
terious call rose snowy and pine-clad
1000 or 5000 feet higher.
1t 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. 1t was,
therefore, late in the morning before the
tenderfoot and his two guides were climb
ing on bronco back toward the tar 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 MEM
Der OF the party. The green timber,
standing IN a deep snow and numbered
by many fallen trees, is practically unit
for horsemen. One after another bare
rock-crowned peaks and tir tree-clsd or
grassy valleys were unveiled TO the traV-
eiers. The tenderfoot, unused to the at
mosphere 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 reiDS over their
horses heads and left the animals stand
ing thus with the certainty that they
could be found when needed.
FIRST SIGHT OF THE ANTLERED MON
ARCH.
Then began that weary ascent of the
snowclad nights. 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. Some
times an eagle wheeled overhead, some
times a great jack rabbit sped by in ter
ror of that winged aerial foe, sometimes
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 a
small tree. The blue grouse is edible and
the hunters were short Of food: so, fear
ful of alarming the elk should they shoot,
they managed, 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
500 yards away. Elk in that part of the
Rockies go in droves that may number
forty or fifty. 1t is not uncommon for
single great bull to lead a polyamOus
family of fifteen or twenty cows, with
the edge Of the cowry. The head of this
strange household usually keeps his
wives in single file ahead of him, in in
this fashion they traverse the mountains.
When sudden thirst seiZes the great
bull he starts with a mad rush Tor the
valley where the nearest stream flows.
He strikes with his great horns the tank
of the first COW that stands in his way,
and thus the whole herd are started i'll
headlong gallop down whatever rough
sleeps leads to the valley below. This
downward flight of the elk herd, thirty
or forty creatures, swift as galloping
horses, suretooted as the Andean llama,
is one of the most astonishing sights OF
the Rockies.
While the second guide talked softly
with the tenderfoot eff the elk's ha bits, the
first guide, a sturdy young blacksmith
from distant village, trudged some yards
ahead. AS things stood thus he suddenly
called in loud whisper and beckoned
the l9ggards onward with gesture OF ex-
element. As the tendertoot fastened
over the thirty or torty yards of snow be-
tween himself and the blacksmith the
latter pointed onward through the pines,
and the tenderfoot saw through a short
vista, for the first time in his life, wild
elk free upon his native ground.
TENDERFooT's ATTACK OF BUCK FEVER.
The great creature loomed large as big
cow, its branching, massive horns ex-
tending far along its sides. The tender
foot was utterly out of breath, half wild
with excitement, and, as he presently
learned, the victim OF buck fever.
Take your shot," said the guide in a
whisper, denoting suppressed excitement,
as he held the straining hound, The ten
derfoot raised the Winchester to his
shoulder, but the weapon wobbled as if
in the hands Of a palsied man. the guides
looked with a sort Of professional horror.
Still the gun wobbled and its owner did
not shoot.
For Gods sake keep that gun quiet !"
whispered 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-
plation of the hunters. The tenderfoot,
despairing of himself. knelt down and
claSped his shaking weapon hard against
his shoulder Then, determined 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 creature leaped from his
place and the guide fired at the 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 planging headlong through the
green timber. One bull was hastenlng
Off with the dog at his heels. The dog
would seize the tetlock, drop it and
crouch as the great creature kicked. FL
nally, the dog, still clinging 10 the BULBS
hind leg. was dragged over a fallen log.
AS the bull took his leap one of the hunt
ers fired, and the elk fell dead.
The air was now filed with the sound Of
the retreating elk as they plunged through
the underbrush. The herd was rapidly
getting out of range, and the hunters
paused to note what execution had been
done. Three elk bulls lay dead. That
which the tenderfoot had first fired at
had moved only a few feet from It's
original stand. The bullet aimed with so
much difficulty had reached his heart.
The guide had inflicted only slight
wound.
Two of the great antlered heads were
taken of by the guides. 1t was impossible
to carry away the flesh or even the skins.
and the party, heavily laden with the ant
lers and choice portions of the meat,