

THE WAPITI 271 



Wyoming they spend the summer in the Yellowstone 

 National Park, but in winter some go south to Jackson's 

 Hole, while others winter in the park to the northeast. 

 In northwestern Colorado their migrations followed 

 much the same line as those of the mule-deer. In dif- 

 ferent localities the length of the migration, and even the 

 time, differed. There were some places where the shift 

 was simply from the high mountains down to their foot- 

 hills. In other places great herds travelled a couple of 

 hundred miles, so that localities absolutely barren one 

 month would be swarming with wapiti the next. In 

 some places the shift took place as early as the month 

 of August; in others not until after the rut, in October 

 or even November; and in some places the rut took place 

 during the migration. 



No chase is more fascinating than that of the wapiti. 

 In the old days, when the mighty antlered beasts were 

 found upon the open plains, they could be followed upon 

 horseback, with or without hounds. Nowadays, when 

 they dwell in the mountains, they are to be killed only 

 by the rifle-bearing still-hunter. Needless butchery of 

 any kind of animal is repulsive, but in the case of the 

 wapiti it is little short of criminal. He is the grandest 

 of the deer kind throughout the world, and he has al- 

 ready vanished from most of the places where he once 

 dwelt in his pride. Every true sportsman should feel it 

 incumbent upon him to do all in his power to preserve 

 so noble a beast of the chase from extinction. No harm 

 whatever comes to the species from killing a certain num- 

 ber of bulls; but an excessive number should never be 



