82 
THE STORY OF THE ELK. 
stronger antagonist. He was caught off his guard. The intruder made a 
fierce charge. The other turned to meet it, but he was not fast enough, and 
received a frightful wound in the flank from his assailant. 
The leader sullenly retired, bellowing as he went, and the intruder installed 
himself at the head of the herd and led his wives in a different direction from 
the wounded animal. I put the wounded animal out of pain and secured a 
beautiful pair of antlers. 
The wapiti, commonly called the elk, is the largest representative of the 
deer family in America. Full-grown stags have been shot by me, the weight 
of which was over a thousand pounds. They measure as high as six feet 
(eighteen hands). The antlers sometimes measure sixty-four to sixty-six 
inches in length. 
The range of the wapiti has of late years been greatly restricted by the 
advance of civilization, until now the animal is nearly extinct. The wapiti 
was formerly found in nearly all parts of the United States, in Mexico, and in 
Canada, as far north as the 6oth parallel of north latitude; but it has vanished 
before the approach of civilization, and is now found only in the remotest 
mountain fastnesses west of the Missouri River, or in the great forests of 
British America. The largest herds now remaining outside of the National 
Yellowstone Park are found in the Olympic Mountains of Washington, and 
among the mountains of Vancouver Island. There are still some remaining 
in the Cascade and Rocky ranges, but they do not congregate there in large 
herds as they do in the Coast ranges. Less than ten years ago there were 
many secluded districts in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, where, during 
the late autumn and winter, wapiti might be seen banded together in herds 
numbering many thousands of individuals; whereas now, it is seldom that 
any can be found together. 
The general habits of the wapiti seem to' be very similar to those of the red 
deer, the old stags living apart from the main herd during the greater part of 
the year; and in the pairing-season taking exclusive possession of a party of 
hinds, after having vanquished their rivals in fight. The shedding of the ant¬ 
lers is late, generally taking place in the full-grown stags during the latter 
part of December or the first half of January. The new antlers begin to 
sprout in March or April, and are fully complete by the middle of August. 
When wapiti were found on the great prairies, the Indians were accus¬ 
tomed to hunt them on horseback by forming a wide circle of mounted men, 
from whom a certain number were detached to harass the unfortunate ani¬ 
mals until they were brought to a standstill. Another favorite method was 
