"The Wapiti & The Moose"

The second book in the NZ Big Game Records series is now available. Because of the wide distribution of the Wapitoid group of the Red deer family and its colourful history here in New Zealand, this volume is a little larger than The Sika With both Asian and North American subspecies attracting hunters and wildlife enthusiasts from both New Zealand and Australia, as well as other parts of the world, these forms have been given adequate coverage to assist any prospective local hunter wishing to visit their range.

The structure of this volume is very similar to that of The Sika with the international scene and historical background covered in Section 1 and the very interesting - perhaps tragic - hunting and political drama in New Zealand dealt with; including the demise of the pure herd and the effective reasons.

The numerous illustrations cover a wide field; the colour plates display the entire spectrum of the Wapitoid group, including several from the local scene. All antlers scoring over 400 on the Douglas Score are allocated a full page, incorporating in each case a photograph of the trophy, its complete relative score-sheet and an account of the stalk and securing of the trophy.

At the rear of each of the two sections, the statistics of the trophies within the parameters of the association's recordings are listed, as was the case with The Sika With many of the significant trophies not previously recorded, it proved to be a marathon finding out their whereabouts and ultimately achieving their measurements and score.

It may well interest many prospective readers and purchasers that the top North American antlers are displayed, together with a full Boone and Crockett Clubs score-sheet. These constitute the premier 'typical' Wapiti and Alaskan Moose, as well as photographs and scores for the best of all other subspecies and configuration classifications.