dead still day walked up to within ten yards of me to meet her fate, yet we found that the habits of elk do not allow them to he driven with any sort of certainty, and that they nearly always turn and go up-wind when they know they arc hunted, so that the most carefully planned drives generally fail.
And though we persevered for the whole month and went over an immense tract of country, sleeping on various farms, and occasionally camping out for a night in the saeters* in order to he nearer to our best ground, the result of the first year was not very successful as regards elk, and no big heads were brought home.
But I had become so enamoured of the country, and had got on so well with the people, and generally enjoyed myself so much, that I went back the next year keener than ever, and this time spent much more time in the higher valley at Graesli, Aune, Lovoen and Stuedal, the last farm towards the Swedish frontier. This year I had some good days after reindeer, of which a few escapes or wanderers from the Lapps or Swedish herds were to be found on the higher mountains. Though not perhaps as wild or wary as genuine wild reindeer, they had to be treated and approached with every bit as much precaution, and one never knew till you got them whether they had been marked in youth or not. I heard that a very big stag had been seen near the top of Oifjeld, a mountain about 5,000 feet high, six or seven miles cast of Ostby, So I started one morning alone on a pony with a rifle and shot-gun, a setter and a lad to lead him, intending to look for ryper if the reindeer were not there. I reached the highest sacter on the mountain about eleven, after ten miles’ ride, tied up my pony and setter and left my gun, and after ascending to near the summit made out some deer feeding in a very easy place to stalk them in. When I got near enough to spy them well I saw one stag with a very good head indeed, and several others not so good though quite shootable. But the big one always kept on the far side of the others out of shot, and though I crawled about on the frozen snow until my fingers had lost sensation, and waited a long time to get in at him, I was at last obliged to kill the best of the others before they went off for good. Reindeer on such ground generally feed along much faster than red deer, and rarely remain long in one place when not lying down, so that in broken ground you may very soon lose them. However, my stag was very fat, and after gralloching him and tying my handkerchief to his horns to keep the ravens and foxes off, I went back to the saeter and sent the lad back to Ostby to get a sledge to get the deer home that night. I then lunched, took out the setter and had three or four hours’ very pleasant ryper shooting before the lad returned with a man and a cart from Ostby. They then unharnessed the pony, packed a light sledge on his back, and started for the place where I told him the reindeer lay about 4 p.m. I went back to Aune, where we were going to sleep, arriving about seven, and the man arrived with the reindeer at twelve at night, having then five miles to go back to his home. I asked him how much I was to pay him for the job and he said four kroners. I merely mention this to show
A saeter is a wooden hut where hay is stored and cattle are taken to graze for a
few weeks in summer.
