28 WAPITI HUNTING. 



In the autumn after t.he antlers have dried and the velvet has 

 been rubbed off against the tree trunks, the rutting season commences, 

 and then the big stags begin to send forth their roaring challenge, and 

 figlit desperate duels with each other, the successful ones gathering 

 large harems round them. By the end of November the bu jks begin 

 to leave the hinds and go off in twos and threes. Then tire herds are 

 led by old hinds, and gradually split up, till in the spring (May when 

 the fawns are born their mothers may be seen in twos and threes like 

 the bucks. The fawns are pretty little creatures of a reddy-fawn 

 colour spotted with white. Just before they are born their mothers 

 are hunted unmercifully, as at this stage of their existence the little 

 creatures are considered most valuable as medicine. A month later 

 the big bucks come in for their share of persecution, for their horns are 

 in velvet, and are then worth from Tls. 30 to Tls. 80 per pair to the 

 Chinese apothecary, (Manchurian wapiti horns are worth double this 

 figure). The horns are then called "shueh chiao" (blood horns) by 

 the natives, while hartshorn is known as "lujung" (deer wool). This 

 product is considered by wealthy Chinese to be of the utmost efficacy, 

 and they spend large sums of money upon it. 



It is difficult to say whether this popular appreciation 

 of the medicinal worth of hartshorn is favourable or otherwise 

 to the preservation of the wapiti. From my own experience 

 I am inclined to look upon ife as a blessing in disguise, for, 

 as far as the Shansi deer are concerned, it provides them with a very 

 long close season and a comparatively short open one. I found that 

 the majority of native hunters, so far from hunting the deer when 

 their horns are not in velvet, resent outsiders doing so. I have al- 

 ways found it extremely difficult to secure hunters who would guide 

 me to the haunts of these deer and the sika, and have been led on 

 many a fruitless chase. I also found this to be the case in Manchuria, 

 though in places like Kansu and the regions westward, where wapiti 

 still seem to be plentiful, and where the natives cannot fall back 

 on farming during the rest of the year, the wapiti is certainly hunted 

 without intermission. It is these districts which supply by far the 

 greater part of the big demand for hartshorn, and huge caravans of 

 mules and camels laden with horns, dried as well as in velvet, may 

 be seen corning in from these western regions. 



In hunting the wapiti various methods are adopted. In Man- 

 churia advantage is taken of the stag's habit of rolling in certain spots 

 in the open glades of the forests, and pitfalls are made. Pitfalls are 

 also made along the deer-patJas in the woods. If by any chance a 



