ELK. (ONE-HALF NATURAL SIZE)
(1) Bull track. (A) Closeness of track. (B) Hillock. (2) Cow track, flat (note spread). (3) Trail of bull. (4) Trail of cow. (5) Trail of calf.
A male yearling has a bigger hoof, and consequently makes a larger track, than a female of the same age, and as the track of a three-year-old bull is the size of that of a large cow, it is obvious that even the track of the largest sterile specimen of the hornless sex cannot approach in size that made by an old bull. As the general size of the elk differs in their various districts, this fact has to be considered; an elk in the Coast country, for example, is much inferior in weight to an elk of the same age in the Rockies. For this reason it is necessary to know the general size of the elks in the territory in which the tracking is done to estimate with approximate correctness the number of points on their horns from the size of the track.
ELK
(6) Gallop. (7) Trot.
The bigger the bull, the farther, of course, stand the tracks away from the center line. What has been said about this, and about the pointing outward of toes in the chapter on Virginia deer, applies also to the elk, with the difference, however, that in the latter it is always a sure sign of the bull, as is also the lagging back with the hind feet.
Like the fan-tail buck, the elk bull, in his manner of walking, makes a hill in his track, but there is no dust heap in front of the latter's, as the elk apparently does not step off so clean.
The bull elk always manages to walk with tightly closed hoofs, at variance with the cow, which lets the hoofs spread more.
By reason of his weight and his habit of pawing the ground, the points of the hoofs or toes of an old bull become rather blunt, causing a much rounder track than a cow makes; and in a big track, like that of an elk, such features show up conspicuously, while it would be a hard matter to detect them in a much smaller deer track, even on the best tracking ground.