Elias, however, thought that an elk which had shown so much cunning and knew he was pursued would not go down-wind, but would, as soon as he heard or winded his pursuer, turn out of the covert over the fjeld, or more probably come out on the lower side and return towards the country he had left in the morning. And he suggested that nay best chance was to leave the tracks altogether, go to the down-wind end of the covert, and hunt it carefully up-wind, so as to come on him from the side where he suspected no danger. And so we did, but just before enter¬ ing the covert I saw half-way up it, and perhaps a hundred yards from the point where we intended to enter it, a slight movement among the birches which I guessed must be caused by an elk’s horns.
And so it proved to be, for as soon as we got high enough for Pasop to get the wind, he told us as plainly as if lie could speak that an elk was not far off. The covert was divided into strips by little gullies running down the slope, and as we came to the top of each little rise wc lay down and spied all the ground most carefully before us, watching the dog all the while, as we knew he would tell us when we got close to the elk. At last Pasop began to stare at a fixed point, and I knew that his nose told him that the elk was not far off. But it was so thick in front, that though I thought I could make out a dark patch between two trees which might be a part of the elk, it did not move at all, and I could not tell what part it was. I waited and waited, hoping that it would move and give me a better chance, but Elias whispered at last that he was certain that it was an elk and that I had better fire at what I could sec before it began to get dark. My mark was divided in two by a birch stem perhaps four inches thick, and I judged that this was not thick enough to stop my bullet, so I aimed very carefully and ran up to the place as quickly as possible. I found that the bullet had passed through the birch tree straight into the elk’s neck, and he had fallen dead without a struggle, about eight hours after I had first seen and wounded him. He was a fine sixteen-pointer and is now stuffed in my hall, as a memorial of one of the most interesting days I ever had after elk.
Another day I was returning home in a heavy storm of wind and rain after killing a good bull on Brotten Farm, and came by chance on a bull which was standing in a dense thicket. I was not more than forty yards off and thought I could see about where his heart should be. As I was now on another farm where no elk had been killed this year, I chanced the shot, but found by the tracks that the bull had gone off with a cow, and did not seem to be seriously wounded, but it was too late to follow. Next morning we returned to the spot and followed the tracks till we came to a little hill-top covered with spruce, where the elk had stood all night without feeding. Elias searched about and found some fresh dung, from the appearance of which he made sure that the elk was hit in the stomach. We then got on the trail and followed it down-wind for some time through country where he was not likely to stand, judging by the tracks that the bull was following the cow. When we got to more likely ground we made a detour, and saw both bull and cow walking along slowly, the cow always leading and looking back for the bull, who was apparently unable to keep up with her. We managed to cut them off,
