A WOUNDED BULL ELK _Frontispiece_ SIX-POINT ELK-ANTLERS _Facing p._ 18 FOLLOWING AN ELK-TRAIL IN WINTER „ 20 GREAT WAS THE BULL’S ASTONISHMENT „ 22 THE GRIZZLY AND A VICTIM „ 32 “THE SHAGGY BEAST WAS FOUND LYING DEAD WITHIN A DOZEN „ YARDS OF HIS LAST VICTIM” 36 “‘I DROPPED ON ONE KNEE AND FIRED’” „ 46 CANADIAN WOLVES AT AN INDIAN GRAVE „ 54 DOGS IN PURSUIT OF AN OLD WOLF „ 60 STALKING BIG GAME „ 68 “‘I LEAPED OFF, AND HELD WELL AHEAD OF THE REARMOST AND „ LARGEST BUCK’” 74 A WOUNDED ANTELOPE „ 76 FINALLY THE GOAT GOT USED TO THE MOTION OF THE CANOE „ 90 COW-BOY AMUSEMENTS „ 96 TAILING A BULL „ 100 “THERE IS A GREAT DEAL OF EXCITING GALLOPING” „ 102 The Wapiti, or Round-horned Elk [Illustration] I THE WAPITI, OR ROUND-HORNED ELK [Illustration] No country of the temperate zone can begin to compare with South Asia, and, above all, tropical and subtropical Africa, in the number and size of those great beasts of the chase which are known to hunters as big game; but after the Indian and African hunting-grounds, the best are still those of North America. Until a few years before 1897 there were large regions, even in the United States, where the teeming myriads of wild game, though of far fewer and less varied species, almost equalled the multitudes found in South Africa, and much surpassed those found anywhere else in point of numbers, though inferior in variety to those of India. [Illustration] This, however, is now a thing of the past. The bison, which was the most characteristic animal of the American fauna, has been practically exterminated. There remained in 1897, however, a fair abundance of all other kinds of game. Perhaps, on the whole, the one affording most sport from the stand-point of the hardy and skilful hunter is the big-horn, though in size and in magnificence of horn it is surpassed by some of the wild sheep of Asia.