Irish elk

“ Wild Animals.—This continuous forest must have swarmed with wild animals of every description. Wolves, which even in the present day prove a scourge occasionally in parts of Europe, were numerous; the caves which abounded in the country were the home of the bear, and the boar fed beneath the deep forest shade. In these remote times, too, the Irish elk, with its huge, broad, branching antlers, a creature of immense size and strength, was existent. Remains of this gigantic deer, the Megaceros Hibernicus, have been found, covered by the peat at various depths, sometimes close to the surface ”

“ The Irish elk is the only animal which has become138 extinct; while the moose, or true elk, is the only wild species which has not been proved to have been living in the preceding age. The stag was very abundant. ”

“ As the bottom of the old icy sea turned into dry land, and got covered with grasses, and weeds, and shrubs once more, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, oxen—sometimes the same species, sometimes slightly different ones—returned to France, and then to England (for there was no British Channel then to stop them) ; and with them came other strange animals, especially the great Irish elk, as he is called, as large as the largest horse, with horns sometimes ten feet across. A pair of those horns with the skull you have seen yourself, and can judge what a noble animal he must have been. ”

“ Next, perhaps, to the extinct elephant, one of the most numerous animals of this ancient group was the great Irish elk, Megaceros Hibernicus, a creature that, measured to the top of its enormous antlers, stood ten feet four inches in height, and exceeded in bulk and size the largest horses. Like all other species of the deer family, the creature annually shed and renewed its horns; "and a male deer may be reckoned," says Professor Owen, "to have left about eight pairs of antlers, besides its bones, to testify its former existence upon the earth. ”

“ The forest, their natural abode, disappears, and some are intentionally destroyed, because they render life and property unsafe. Under the operation of these causes, the Irish elk (cervus giganteus) has become extinct, probably within the human era. ”

“ The Ursus arvernensis, Cervus Polignacus, Hippopotamus major, Rhinoceros etruscus, and R. megarhinus, the horse,419 Elephas meridionalis, and E. antiquus were living in the pleiocene age in France and Italy, and probably in Norfolk. The cave-bear, the wolf, fox, mole, beaver, Irish elk, roe, stag, urus, wild-boar, and the mammoth have not as yet been discovered in the continental pleiocenes, as judged by the standards offered by the Val d’Arno and Southern France. They are more or less abundant in the late pleistocene age. ”

“ Original Size
Why do the porters wear velvet hunting caps? Frank would keep inquiring, “where the hounds met” (it was a broiling day early in August) , “why they didn't have top boots?” &c., &c., &c. The museum is a very interesting one; and our cicerone in the cap pointed out the harp of Brian Boroimhe—that “Bryan the Brave,” who was so devoted to threshing the Danes and music; the enormous antlers of an Irish elk, which placed upon wheels would make a glorious outside car, the passengers sitting among the tines; eagles, and other native birds, galore ”

“ The crash of glass may be imagined as an animal as large as a pony leaped through it; but old Smut was ready for her, and after a chase of a few yards he pulled her down. This is the only instance that I have ever known of an elk entering a building, although it is a common occurrence with hunted deer in England. An elk found on the top of Pedro talla Galla, which rises from the plain of Newera Ellia, will generally run straight down the mountain, and, unless headed, he will frequently come to bay in the river close to the hotel, which is situated at the foot of the mountain. ”

“ Wherever its abiding-place may be, it will be found that the elk is essentially a forest-loving creature, partial to the loneliest stretches of the woods and dreary marshes. Its fleshy, bulbous, prehensile muzzle shows plainly that the elk is a browsing beast, and not a grazing animal, like most other deer. The male carries vast palmated horns, measuring sometimes as much as 6 feet 11⁄4 inch in span from tip to tip ”

“ The calves are sandy-brown, but never spotted, as are the fawns of the common deer.
The moose is no other than the elk of Northern Europe; but the elk of America (Cervus Canadensis) , as already stated, is altogether a different animal. These two species may be mistaken for each other, in the season when their antlers are young, or in the velvet; then they are not unlike to a superficial observer. But the animals are rarely confounded—only the names. The American elk is not found indigenous in the eastern hemisphere, although he is the ornament of many a lordly park. ”

“ A fine Scandinavian bull will measure 18 hands at the withers and weigh as much as 90 stone, while the North American elk is said to attain as much as 1,400 lbs. In colour the elk is a dark brownish grey; the neck, body, and tail are short; while the animal stands very high {275}upon the legs. Under the throat of the male hangs a singular appendage, a sort of tassel of hair and skin, known to American hunters as the "bell." The build of the elk is clumsy, and the mighty beast entirely lacks the grace characteristic of so many others of the deer kind. ”

“ The deep wilderness of coniferous forest to the north, remote and little disturbed by European invasion, is inhabited by two species of deer—the moose and the caribou—which are still fairly numerous. A difference in habits, as well as in aboriginal distribution, may account for the persistence of these two deer, as compared with the elk, in the Atlantic region. The elk is gregarious by nature and in the early history of the country was found in large herds, sometimes a hundred or more individuals, frequenting the open beaver meadows and the timber of river bottoms throughout the Appalachians. ”

“ During the last few years great interest has been shown in the reintroduction of elk in parts of their former range, where they had been exterminated and where conditions are still suitable for their perpetuation. Such efforts are meeting with much success. Not only do the animals thrive and increase rapidly, but local sentiment is almost unanimous in their favor. This is well shown by the active interest taken by both cattle and sheep owners in northern Arizona in regard to a band of elk introduced a few years ago on their mountain stock ranges. ”

“ They are dull, sluggish animals, at least in comparison with others of the deer tribe, and are easily approached and killed. In winter they congregate in large herds, often numbering several hundreds; and at that season are fond of travelling, their track through the snow having the appearance of a broad beaten road. The elk requires less killing than any other of the deer tribe (whose tenacity of life is remarkable) ; a shot anywhere in the fore part of the animal brings it to the ground. ”

“ Exterminated throughout most of their original range, elk still occupy some of their early haunts in western Canada, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Pacific Coast States. The last elk was killed in Pennsylvania about 60 years ago, and in Michigan and Minnesota some 20 years later. The main body of the survivors are now in the Yellowstone Park region. Their size and the readiness with which they thrive in captivity has led to serious consideration of elk farming as an industry. ”

“ When the last scrap of meat, hide and hair had been devoured and the bones gnawed white and clean, Breed moved on in search of more.149
There were always some few stragglers that lagged behind the elk herds and failed to start for the winter range till after the passes were blocked with snow. These turned back and starved when the grass was buried deep and their feet were cut and worn from pawing through the crust to reach it; for the elk is strictly a grazing animal and cannot live entirely by browsing on the twigs and brush as do moose and deer. ”

“ As the season advanced, the party found many delicious wild fruits, such as currants, plums, raspberries, wild apples, and vast quantities of mulberries. Wild turkeys were also found in large numbers, and the party had evidently entered a land of plenty. Wild geese were abundant, and numerous tracks of elk were seen. But we may as well say here that the so-called elk of the Northwest is not the elk of ancient Europe; a more correct and distinctive name for this animal is wapiti, the name given the animal by the Indians. The European elk more closely resembles the American moose. ”

“ The great length of the legs gives a decidedly ungainly appearance to the elk. The muzzle is long and fleshy, with only a very small triangular naked patch below the nostrils; and the males have a peculiar sac, known as the bell, hanging from the neck. From the shortness of their necks, elks are unable to graze, and their chief food consists of young shoots and leaves of willow and birch. In North America during the winter one male and several females form a “moose-yard” in the forest, which they keep open by trampling the snow. ”

“ It is sad to think that such a noble creature as the American elk is doomed to early and absolute extinction, but such is nevertheless the fact. Year by year his mountain habitat is being surrounded and encroached upon by the advancing line of settlements, as the fisherman encircles the struggling mass of fishes in the clear pond with his long and closely-meshed net. The lines are drawn closer and closer each year. These lines are the ranches of cattle and sheep raisers, the cabins and towns of miners, the stations and residences of employés of the railroads. ”

“ Another precaution was taken in 1902 when twenty-one head were purchased from the Goodnight and Allard herds in Texas and Montana, respectively. Since then the herd has flourished and is now stabilized at eight hundred head. The increase is reduced periodically and distributed among near-by Indian agencies.
A reduction policy has also been adopted to control the northern elk herd. Summer is lavish in its gifts to Park elk. Lush grasses, shady dells, and cool weather make an ideal condition for them. Fall finds them fat and sleek, with bulls bugling in every glen. ”

“ Venison is in its prime when the elk's horns are in velvet. At this season, when the new antlers have almost attained their full growth, they are particularly tender, and the buck moves slowly and cautiously through the jungle, lest he should injure them against the branches, taking no further exercise than is necessary in the search of food. He therefore grows very fat, and is then in fine condition.
The speed of an elk, although great, cannot be compared to that of the spotted deer. ”

“ They are also less delicate in their food than horses, are long-lived, and more productive than any known beast of burden, having annually from one to three young ones at a birth. Elks were formerly used in Sweden for the drawing of sledges; but as they were frequently employed in the escape of criminals from justice, the use of them was prohibited under severe penalties. The inhabitants of all countries where the elk is found esteem its flesh a sweet and nutritious food, though the grain is coarser than that of most other kinds of venison. ”

“ It is so little profaned by man that if one were compelled to live here in solitude one might truly say of the bears, deer, and elk which abound, "Their tameness is shocking to me." It is the world of "big game." Just now a heavy-headed elk, with much-branched horns fully three feet long, stood and looked at me, and then quietly trotted away. He was so near that I heard the grass, crisp with hoar frost, crackle under his feet. ”

“ When started and attacked by the dogs, the moose attempts to escape by flight. The crust of ice covering the snow breaks at every step, and the poor creature cuts his legs so severely that he is obliged to stand at bay, and endeavors to defend himself against his assailants by means of his fore feet. In this situation he is despatched by the rifle ball of the hunter.
The Elk.—The elk is still occasionally found in the remote and thinly settled parts of Pennsylvania, but the number is small; it is only in the western wilds that they are seen in considerable herds. ”

“ Once upon a time elks lived in all parts of America, but now they have been killed off by hunters in most parts, and are found wild only in the Far West.
The elk is a fine fellow. At the shoulder he is as tall as a man, and is as heavy as six men. He lives in places where there is plenty of forest—that is, plenty of trees. ”

“ Judge Caton, in his Antelope and Deer of America, also remarks on the animosity of elk toward dogs, and says that the does always lead in the chase of dogs that get into the elk park. If elk will attack and vanquish dogs and coyotes and thus help to protect domestic animals grazing in the same pastures, a knowledge of the fact may be of great advantage to stockmen who desire to give up herding sheep and resort to fenced pastures instead. ”

“ Let the devotee of these other classes of sport try bear hunting, and when he has bagged his first grizzly, then let him talk!
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CHAPTER XXII. ELK HUNTING IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
F all the large game on the American continent, the elk (Cervus canadensis) is the noblest, the grandest, the stateliest. I would detract nothing from the noble game qualities of the moose, caribou, deer, or mountain sheep. Each has its peculiar points of excellence which endear it to the heart of the sportsman, but the elk possesses more than any of the others. ”