154 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



country, and the more serious business of the trip 

 was about to commence. 



It may be opportune here to write a word on the 

 nature of the great deer we were about to hunt. 



c What is the size of an elk (wapiti) ?' it may be 

 asked. 



A fully -matured wapiti bull will turn the scale at 

 from 60 to 75 stone. These figures are necessarily 

 an estimate, as there are no scales in a western 

 hunting-camp. But our men were used to judging 

 the weight of live-stock, and we all of us could form 

 a fair estimate of the weight of dead game. It is as 

 much as two able-bodied men can do to turn a dead 

 wapiti bull over for skinning purposes. 



A good head usually carries from twelve to four- 

 teen tines in exceptional cases up to eighteen tines. 

 It will measure up to 60 inches, and sometimes more, 

 along the curve of horn. A sixty-inch head is usually 

 considered a first-class specimen. 



The following are the dimensions of a wapiti bull 

 taken by myself as he lay dead on the ground. He 

 carried a twelve-point head on the whole the best 

 head I ever killed, though I have secured others with 

 more points and more weight of horn, but not so long. 



Height at shoulder - 5 feet 4 inches. 



Girth behind shoulder - - 6 feet 2 inches. 



Length along curve of horn - - 61^ inches. 

 Beam, or circumference between bay 



and tray - 8 inches. 



Span - -52 inches. 



Points - - 12. 



The antlers, as all sportsmen know, are deciduous. 

 Falling off some time in March (the exact month is, 

 according to some authorities, a disputed point), they 

 commence to grow again almost immediately, and are 

 full grown by the middle of August. 



