122 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



BREEDING OF THE WAPITI, OR AMERICAN ELK 



Although cur 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 contri- 

 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 leasit thirty. I have 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 recent 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. 



