Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-04-21
A BIG AMERICAN ELK.


Several months ago Lieut.. g. P.
Ahern, OF the United States army,
was in the widest, least visited part
Of Montana, pursuing his mission OF
mapping the mountains of the State
for the War Department. He had
got 100 miles from Deer Lodge into
. region SO secluded that in all prob
ability no white man has ever been
there before. As he toiled on ahead
Of his men he came upon sight that
made him, veteran hunter though he
Is, feel like boy with the buck fe.
yer. Before him, not many yards
away, was mighty wap'ii, the might
lest he had ever seen.
1t was lying down, and as he
stopped il arose slowly, but neither
turned to ay nor advanced to fight.
1t looked straight at him, and the
Lieutenant, thought its eyes were try
ing to express to him All utter weari-
ness OF life and desire 10 have the
end come as soon M possible,
Tor he could SEQ that this buck was
very old. As he advanced toward II,
it made feeble effort to run. He
raised his rifle and shot it behind the
ear. II fell dead with scarcely a
culver.
When the Lieutenant came to ex.
anime his prize, says the New York
Sun, no was more astonished than at
first, for he saw that he had killed
the greatest wapiti OF which there is
any record, and also the oldest.
Erect the wapiti stood nearly ten feet
from the top Of its great antlers.
From the ground to the base OF the
antlers was six feet. The head was
over two feet long from the base OF
the antlers 10 the end OF the nostrils.
The body was as large as the body
OF big horse, and the head was
much larger. The sn,lers themselves
had fifteen prongs, one less than that
sixtcen-pronged pair Of antlers which
is regarded as unique curiosity, and
Is not nearly 30 large as this pair.
The teeth OF the old buck we're
worn down below the gums, SO that
IL would have been impossible for
him to bite anything, and, as an index
to his long and varied career, there
was hardly square inch of his hide
that did not bear the mark Of bullet
or arrow. Lieutenant Ahern's In.
dams hauled the body down to Deer
Lodge, and there hunters, white and
Indian, from all parts OF the world
crowded to see the wonder.
Lieutenant Ahern sent the head
and the hide to Julian Ralph, the au.
thor. and Mr.. Ralph took them te
Sauter, the taxidermist and animal
dealer. in William street. Sauter ha,
had thirty years experience and ha,
stuffed all kinds Of things, both grea,
and small. He had never seen any
thing like this monster. When hs
came to examine the teeth he could
hardly believe his own eyes. Hs
said that buck was at least eight,
years old, aud perhaps was over 100
Sauter thought that no one in historic
times had killed such great crea
ture, greater than any animal sup
posed 10 exist on this continent sine,
the time white men began to explore
When you think Of this creature
who was born in the last century
long before Lewis and Clark, lone
before any white man had penetrated
the Businesses of the Rockies; wheI
you think Of his hide, Scared in
hundred different places by arrow
and by bullet you realize wha
awonderful career Lieutenant Ahern',
bullet ended. As Mr.. Ralph says
away back, before Washington wa.
President, this buck was leading q
herd OF does, and was the proudes,
OF all his kind. When he fought tc
assert his supremacy and the RICH,
TO an inviolate harem the issue of the
battle could never have been uncer.
tain. Many an Indian hunter he ha,
laid low IN the days when he could
look over the vast plains, dotted
thinkly with 10000 buffalo.
But as decades and quarter cen.
turies rolled by he began to grow
old, still ruling by reason OF size and
strength, but inevitably nearing the
time when age would make him toe
feeble to rule any more. But be
saw many, many generations Of
proud bucks rise and grow and die
before even the frs, signs of grea,