WAPITI.

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 18

WAPITI.

THEIR HABITS AND HAUNTS. AN INTERESTING LETTER. The following letter from Mr J. Holmes, Baker Island, Russell, was read at the meeting of the Acclimatisation Society on Thursday night (says the Southland Tinies) “ I am sending these few lines in the hope that they may be of use to your society. On my recent trip with *Mr Thomas I saw some 30 wapiti all told, and my impression of them is that they are very capable of taking care of themselves. I found that they climbed into quite as difficult places as do the red deer, and the only bones I saw were the bones of Mr Herrick’s kill last season. I do not think there is a greater mortality among the bulls than among the cows. One thing I am quite sure of is that very little is known of their habits in New Zealand. If one had only the bugling to go by one would get very few wapiti. I heard bulls bugle only twice during my trip. Again, I do not believe the rut was on while we were out, from March 24 to April 10, as we saw several bulls with a herd of about 10 or 15 cows, and no sign of any fighting. My opinion is that all the old bulls leave the herds and wander away to quiet valleys where the food is good aud the herd wapiti have not reached. They will not wander in search of the hinds till the rut is on. Thc question is when does it come on? It is very likely that they are not acclimatised enough yet to have come to our season as the red deer have done. In my opinion we were too early.. Take the Nitz Brothers’ experience. They saw cows but no bulls on their block. Could they have waited sooner or later bulls must have come into in. It would be utter foolishnes for a man to give any estimate of the quantity of wapiti. Food is plentiful, and the range of country is immense. The country is hard and the weather beats the stalker more often than the deer do, and after all, one can see very little of the country in a trip. If you go up the valley you can sec very little of the hillsides, and equally so if you go along the hilltop. It is the halfway line where tne game are plentiful as a rule, and how impossible that halfway line is only those who have tried to scale any of the mountains on Block 3 know. This country will be the greatest hunting district in New Zealand in the near future, the very difficulty of obtaining the prize making it the more valued. Very few will ever obtain wapiti without hard toil and no small danger.”

It was decided to write to Mr Holmes and thank him for his instructive letter.