CHAPTER VIII
THE SCANDINAVIAN ELK
By Sir Henry Pottinger, Bart.
The chase of the elk, one of the few grand wild sports still to be found in Europe, was thought worthy of mention by very old and distinguished writers, but their remarks on the subject are perhaps not likely to be of much practical value to the modern sportsman. The great Cæsar is our authority for the fact that the elk, having no joints to its legs and being therefore unable to lie down, is compelled to take its rest by leaning against a tree. The cunning hunter, continues the noble Roman, takes advantage of this peculiarity, and by sawing most of the trees in a wood frequented by the ponderous beast nearly through, brings about its downfall, when, from inability to rise, it becomes an easy victim. I have not yet tried this method of hunting, which is corroborated by Pliny, when writing of the elk ‘in Scandinavia insula.’ The celebrated naturalist also observes that, owing to the monstrous protrusion of its upper lip, the animal is compelled to feed backwards. Other ancient writers concur in the statement that the elk when pursued is liable to epileptic fits, but that he can occasionally relieve himself from the malady by opening a vein in his ear with his hind foot. I am inclined to believe, having never myself seen an elk in a fit, that now-a-days the remedy is invariably successful; but I find that the author of a small French book, entitled Nouveau voyage vers le Septentrion, and published in 1708, mentions that whilst hunting near Christiania in the company of a Norwegian nobleman, he was fortunate enough to be an eye-witness of the death of the only two elk they found, both of which succumbed, after a severe run, to sudden epileptic attacks, otherwise they would certainly never have been overtaken! He records, moreover, his scornful rejection of one of the elk’s feet, kindly offered by his host as a sovereign preservative against this terrible ‘falling sickness,’ on the not unreasonable ground that the pretended virtue of the foot had been of little use to its original owner.
We thus see that from the earliest times some degree of mystery and special interest has been attached to the habits and chase of the elk, whose obscure existence in the depth of Northern forests, and gigantic uncouthness of appearance, amounting almost to deformity, still seem to indicate him as a survivor from the remote age of antediluvian or primæval monsters.
Owing to the wise protective enactments of the Government, extending over more than half a century, the Scandinavian elk, which although formerly abundant was at one time almost in danger of extinction, has of late years again spread rapidly over a great part of Norway and Sweden, wherever the country is sufficiently wild and wooded to suit its habits. It is indeed found even within a comparatively short distance of the capitals, some of the best elk-ground in Norway being accessible by a short railway or road journey from Christiania; but this is principally in the hands of gentlemen resident in that city, by whom the game in the adjacent forests is often as strictly preserved as that in our coverts at home. It appears, however, that the elk is still almost unknown in the extreme north—that is, within the Arctic Circle. Its range throughout the whole Scandinavian Peninsula, with the exception of rare stragglers, may be fairly reckoned as lying between 57° and 66° 30 N. By the published returns of the ‘Norsk Jæger og Fisker Forening,’ we learn that in 1889, which may be accepted as an average year, elk were killed in eleven out of the eighteen amts or provinces of Norway. North Trondhjem, which includes the wild regions round Stordal, Værdal, Inderöen, and Namdal, was easily first in its return of 303 elk, of which 207 were bulls and 96 cows. Next, but a long way behind, came Akershus (containing the capital, Christiania) with 71 bulls and 47 cows, 118 in all; Hedemarken was third with 109 elk; Christian fourth with 82; Buskerud fifth with 77, and South Trondhjem sixth with 74. The long stretch of Nordland returned only 9 kills; and Finmarken, the Arctic province, not a single one. Altogether about 850 elk on the average are killed yearly in Norway, and in Sweden rather more than double the number. It must be remembered, however, that on the vast estates belonging to the great landowners in the south and centre of the latter country elk are preserved as strictly as foxes or pheasants are in England, and that, at the same time, there is no legal restriction to prevent the sportsman killing during the season as many elk, including calves, as he can, upon any property however small; whereas in Norway he is limited, under penalty of a heavy fine, to one deer for each registered or ‘matriculated’ division of the land, and the murder of calves is altogether forbidden.
The period during which it is legal to kill elk in Norway is nominally from August 1 to September 31, but this general law is subject to much local modification. Thus, in Nordland the full time of three months is still granted; in North Trondhjem it is curtailed to forty days, from September 1 to October 10; whilst in South Trondhjem its duration is for the month of September only. As by the watchful care of the authorities the close-time for any game in any given district of Scandinavia is always liable to extension, it is as well for intending lessees of sporting rights to ascertain exactly the terms of the local enactments, and, if possible, the probabilities of fresh legislation. Some years ago I took a large tract of forest in the province of Jemtland, in Sweden, and had just succeeded, after the first season, in making my quarters fairly comfortable, when the Government passed a law forbidding any elk to be killed in that province for three years. Unluckily the local authorities neglected to enforce at the same time proper supervision in the matter of poaching. A Swede, who acted as hunter for me some years later, coolly confessed that he and his comrades had never had such good sport as during that long close-time. Whilst honest law-abiding men stayed at home and the officials pocketed their salaries and did nothing, the poacher gangs had the immense forest tracts all to themselves, and with the connivance of some of the farmers, who of course had their share of the spoil, were easily able to escape detection. The elk season in Sweden would appear to be subject to local variations similar to those in Norway; in the province of Jemtland it is confined to the month of September only.
Knowing nothing of the American moose, except from reading or hearsay, I am scarcely equal to drawing any comparison between it and the Scandinavian elk. It is, I understand, generally agreed that while the two animals are about equal in bulk, the moose, in the matter of horns at least, has the advantage—ceteris paribus—of its European congener. Nevertheless, the latter, when it has attained its full honours, is capable of furnishing the sportsman with a trophy of which he may well be proud.
Whether, as some experienced hunters maintain, the age of an elk can be fairly determined by the number of points on its antlers, or whether, as others declare, there is absolutely no test by which it can be approximately guessed, beyond the fact that the ruggedness and spread of the coronet and the thickening of the base of the horns and tines are sure indications of old age, it is not for me, in the teeth of such conflicting opinions, to decide, although I have for some years taken especial pains to collect data and ideas on this very obscure subject. But I would suggest, with all due respect to the theories of others, that nature is seldom purely capricious, and that, taking as a basis the normal development of the horns during the first two or three years, which is, as a rule, regular and easily observable, and regarding the large number of elk with antlers of almost precisely the same size and number of points that are annually killed, there does appear to be some method in the growth of the latter, and that it does seem only reasonable that some accuracy of calculation may be attained by those who have constant opportunities, if they will but take the trouble, of verifying it. I fancy that it is only of late years and since a small band of English sportsmen has devoted itself to the regular annual pursuit of the elk in Scandinavia, that the native hunter, the Norwegian at least, has been induced by example to exhibit any interest in the question of horns or to regard them as worthy of special attention: the size of the body and the amount of meat have always been to him of far greater importance. To this day I occasionally hear Scandinavian Nimrods express much incredulous astonishment at the fact that an Englishman has been known to spare a well-grown bull with an insignificant trophy, or a big cow. Quite recently, however, Norway has been invaded by a large number of German sportsmen also bent on the pursuit of the elk, and from all accounts these gentlemen, keen and energetic as they all undoubtedly are, are not, as a rule, prone to err on the side of declining chances. May I then, without polemical design, suggest it as probable that a bull elk attains its prime between the ages of seven and twelve years, when, in the natural course of events, the antlers will have from fourteen to twenty-four points or thereabouts, and that to this general computation there must be, from various causes, many exceptions? It is not too common to find the horns a perfect pair, although they may be symmetrical in their general curves and sweep; one has frequently a point or two more than its fellow. I have seen a single fine very massive head that had no palmation whatever, and on each antler only four tines, but these were of great length and thickness, and strongly resembled on a smaller scale those of the wapiti. The owner of another remarkable head, which I have not seen, describes it as being very powerful, with twenty-three points in all, in double rows on each horn. I find that among native hunters the belief is prevalent that there are two kinds of elk, the one being less massive in build than the other, of lighter colour, and with invariably less palmation; but I take it that such variation is simply due to local influences, and is common to many animals, cornigerous and otherwise.