Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-09-10
ELK HUNT
TWO o OCEAN
PASS
BY
THEODORE ROOSEVELT


his head thrown back as he rubbed his
shoulders with his horns. There were
several cows around him, and one saw
me Immediately, and took alarm.
fired into the bulls shoulder, inflicting
mortal wound; but he went Off, and
l raced after him at top speed, firing
twice into his flank; then he stopped.
very sick, and broke his neck with q
fourth bullet. An elk often hesitates
in the first moments of surprise and
fright, and does not get really under
way for two or three hundred yards;
but, when once fairly started, he may
go several miles, even though mortally
wounded; therefore, the hunter, after
his first shot, should run forward us
fast as he can, and shoot again and
again until the quarry drops. In this
way many animals that would other
wise be lost are obtained, especially
by the man who has a repeating
rifle
The elk | thus slew was n giant
Ills body was the size of Il steers.
and his antlers, though not unusually
long. were very massive and heavy.
He lay in a glade on the edge of Il
great cliff. Standing on its brink we
overlooked most beautiful country.
the home of all homes for the elk:
wilderness of mountains, the immense
evergreen forest broken by park and
glade, by meadow and pasture, by
bare hillside and barren table-land
Some five miles off lay the sheet of
water known to the Old hunters as
Spotted Lake; two or three shallow.
sedgy places, and spots of gcyser for
nation, made pale green blotches on
its wind-rippled surface. Far to the
southwest in daring beauty and maj
esty, the grand domes and lofty spires
of the Tetons shot into the blue
sky.
That night, as on more than one
night afterward, bull elk came down
whistling to within two or three hun
dred yards of the tents, and tried to
join the horse herd. The moon had
set, so / could not go after It. Elk are
very restless and active throughout
the night in the rutting season; but
where undisturbed they feed freely in
the daytime, resting for two or three
hours about noon.
Next day, which was rainy, we spent
in getting in the antlers and meat of
the two dead elk; and I shot off the
heads of two or three blue grouse on
the way home. The following day
killed another bull elk, following him
by the strong. not unpleasing smell
and hitting him twice as he ran, at
about eighty yards. So far l had had
good luck. killing everything | had
shot at; but now the luck changed
through no fault OF mine. as far as
could see. and Ferguson had his in
nings. The day after l killed this
bull he shot two fine mountain rams;
and during the remainder of our hunt
he killed five elk-one cow, for meat
and four good bulls. The two rams
were with three others, all old and
with fine horns; Ferguson peeped over
n lofty precipice and saw them COM
ing up it only fifty yards below him.
His two first and finest bulls were OBJ
tained by hard running and good
shooting; the herds We're on the move
at the time, and only his speed of foot
and soundness of wind enabled him
to get near enough for a shot. One
herd started before he got close, and
he killed the master bull by shot
right through the heart as it trotted
past, hundred and fifty yards dis
tant.
As for me, during the next ten days
l killed nothing save one COW for meat;
and this though | hunted hard every
day from morning till night no matter
what the weather Our i'll success was
In part due to sheer bad luck; but the
chief element therein was the presence
of great huntngparty of Shoshoue
Indians. Split into bands of eight to
ten each, they secured the whole coun
try on their tough, sure-footed ponies
AS they slew whatever they could, but
by preference cows and calves, and as
they We're very persevering. but also
very eXcitable and generally poor shots
so that they wasted much powder. they
not only wrought havoc among the elk
but also scared the survivors out of all
the country over which they hunted
Day in and day out we plodded on
In hunting trip the days of long mo-
notony in getting to the ground, and
the days of unrequited toll after it has
been reached, always far outnumber
the red-letter days of success. But it is
just these times of failure that really
test the hunter In the long run, COM
nonsense and dogged perseverance
avail him more than any other quail.
ties. The man who does not give up,
but hunts steadily and resolutely
through the spells of bad luck until the
luck turns, is the man who wins sue
cess in the end.
After week at Two-Ocean Pass, we
gathered our pack-animals one frosty
morning, and again set off across the
mountains. A two-days' jaunt took us
to the summit of Wolverine Pass, near
Pinyon Peak, beside little mountain
tarn; each morning we found its sur
face skinned with black ice, for the
nights were cold. After three or four
days, we shifted camp to the mouth OF
Wolverine Creek, to get off the hunting
grounds of the Indians. We had used
up our last elk-meat that morning, and
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