News

Are red deer and elk the same thing?

I picked up an American magazine and read an article about hunting elk. The photograph looked like a red stag. Are our red deer called elk in America?

Would you like to speak to our readers? We offer sponsored articles and advertising to put you in front of our audience. Find out more.

Stalking
GEORGE WALLACE says: What the Americans call an elk is known in Europe and Asia – and also in New Zealand – as wapiti. It is closely related to the red deer and shares the first two parts of the red’s Latin name, cervus elaphus scoticus.

The wapiti is much larger than the red – about twice the weight – but the two can interbreed. I have heard that wapiti were introduced into parts of Scotland some years ago with a view to increasing the size and vigour of the local red deer, but I don’t know if it is true.

In some continental countries hunters take animals each year bearing remarkable heads but these are rarely pure red deer – almost invariably they are wapiti crosses.

Got a question? Contact: sportinggun@ipcmedia.com or Sporting Gun, PO Box 157, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 9FU