MOOSE AND WAPITI

Hokitika Guardian, 30 March 1921, Page 4

MOOSE AND WAPITI

i aximals thkivixo ix south. i WK ISLINGTON, -March ! Tlic report of the Government Conservator on wapiti and moose deer in the West Coast fiords indicates that i both varieties are thriving and reachi ing greater «i*.e than in their native ' haunts. A photograph of an elk shows 'an animal (gui! to a draught hor-e in size. Many traces of deer were found tat Lake Alice, George Sound, and also ’ at Lake Katherine tracks being seen in j every direction. The first moose tracks j were encountered at Wet .Jacket Arm,

j .'it tln> head ol' .Milford Sound, trees | being barked and fern eated. Hoof j prints C>\ inches wide indicated a J large animal with a small one follouI mg. Hark had been eaten to a height of twelve feet. It is clear that the animals are now well established and have become well acclimatised to the rough country which affords them great protection from a stalker’s point of view, for the successful stalker here must be one who is willing to contend with hardships unheard of in other parts of the Dominion, hardship's such as being drenched to the skin daily by heavy rains and crossing quickly flood, eel rivers and camping out in dense, wet hush. These conditions will have to be contended with until such time as tracks arc made from th<> various arms of the Sounds to such joints as IV Anau. -Manapouri. and Monovai, where reasonable arrangements can be made to visit the locality.