There's elk all around.

I heerd a bull whistle at sunup to-day.

Made me wish I was young ag'in!...
You go pack in an elk." "I haven't run across any bulls lately," Wade had replied, but he did not mention that he had avoided such a circumstance.

The fact was Wade admired and loved the elk above all horned wild animals.

So strange was his attitude toward elk that he had gone meat-hungry many a time with these great stags bugling near his camp.
As he climbed the yellow, grassy mountain-side, working round above the valley, his mind was not centered on the task at hand, but on Wilson Moore, who had come to rely on him with the unconscious tenacity of a son whose faith in his father was unshakable.