CHAPTER V 



THE WAPITI OR ROUND-HORNED ELK 



THE wapiti is the largest and stateliest deer in 

 the world. A full-grown bull is as big as a steer. 

 The antlers are the most magnificent trophies 

 yielded by any game animal of America, save the 

 giant Alaskan moose. When full grown they are 

 normally of twelve tines ; frequently the tines are 

 more numerous, but the increase in their number 

 has no necessary accompaniment in increase in 

 the size of the antlers. The length, massiveness, 

 roughness, spread, and symmetry of the antlers 

 must all be taken into account in rating the value 

 of a head. Antlers over fifty inches in length are 

 large ; if over sixty, they are gigantic. Good 

 heads are getting steadily rarer under the perse- 

 cution which has thinned out the herds. 



Next to the bison the wapiti is of all the big 

 game animals of North America the one whose 

 range has most decreased. Originally it was 

 found from the Pacific coast east across the Alle- 

 ghanies, through New York to the Adirondacks, 

 through Pennsylvania into western New Jersey, 



