122 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 
BREEDING OF THE WAPITI, OR AMERICAN ELK 
Although our native wapiti is less prolific than the Virginia deer, 
and some other species that have been bred in parks, it makes up for 
this circumstance in hardiness and ease of management. It has been 
successfully acclimatized in England and on the continent, where it has 
been crossed with both the Altai wapiti of Asia and the red deer of 
Europe. Both crosses with the American species have improved the 
stock in size and general stamina. 
The wapiti has been successfully bred in many sections of the 
United States and affords one of the best subjects for experiments in 
breeding for profit. While the old males are apt to become dangerously 
vicious during the rutting season, making them somewhat undesirable 
for open parks, they are ordinarily docile and have often been trained 
to harness and driven in public. Under careful scientific management 
with possibly careful dehorning, the elk would in a very few generations 
develop into a gentle race of a true domesticity. 
Judge John D. Caton, of Illinois, who during his lifetime contii- 
buted much to our knowledge of the deer family and of their susceptibi- 
lity to domestication, was apparently unfortunate in having enclosures 
poorly adapted to deer. He believed that they contained some kind of 
vegetable food that was harmful to most of the species; but his herd of 
elk was always healthy. Writing in 1880, Judge Caton said: 
“My elk continue to do well and are so prolific that I have had 
repeatedly to reduce their numbers and would be glad now to dispose 
of at least thirty. Ihave on an average about one old buck a year killed 
in battle and sometimes another by some casualty, but all appear 
healthy. Mine grow very large and of all the cervidae they seem best 
adapted to domestication.” 
Your committee has 1ecent reports from a number of breeders of 
elk, all of whom seem to confirm the opinion advanced by Judge Caton 
as to the success of breeding the elk in preserves. 
Joshua Hill, of Pontiac, Mich., has a preserve of 300 acres in which 
he has been breeding elk and buffalo. Although not breeding animals 
for commercial purposes, he is of the opinion that elk, on account of 
their superior hardiness, could be more profitably handled than deer. 
He has heard of elk meat bringing from 50 cents a pound upward, and 
thinks that the business of growing animals for market might be made 
to win if properly pushed. 
