Wapiti -John Eickert Several years ago, I wrote about my one visit to Kashmir, Srinigar and Dachigam. The terrain at Dachigam is much like here in Montana. When I was there, decades ago, it was fall of the year and the hangul were mating.
The male hangul create an interesting song as they defend territory, hoping to attract females. There is an animal here, a large deer known locally as Wapiti, or sometimes-called elk. The wapiti are a large member of the deer family, tan to brown in color,
about a meter and a half at the shoulder and 200-250 kilos. The females bond into calving herds and spend most of the year in those groups, herd size ranging from 2 or 3 to 400 or more depending on terrain. The males grow branched antlers, which they polish
and use during the season as do their ‘cousins’ the hangul. Wapiti have fascinated me since I was a child.