traditional hunting while hitting the easy button...

[cynthialee]

I live in a forest. Surounded by wild life everywhere. I was just sitting here watching bambi walk through my yard and it dawns on me:
If bambi is walking right up to my door step in the year 2012 the folks who lived in the wilds in the pre industrial revolution era probably also had critters just coming into the yard.

Betcha many by gone era folks didn't go stalking game trails, looking for signs of passing prey, and all they had to do was wake up a bit earlier than usual, poke their nose out the front door and wait for something to walk onto the property. Or bring your fire arm with you as you went about the chores and likely some time durring the day something worth eating might get into range.

 

[roundball]

Kind of the way I see it too...knowing that they basically grew most of the food they ate I've often thought getting meat most of the year wasn't much more difficult than busting a deer standing there eating their corn, beans, etc.
And figuring they smoked/salted/cured some to last through some or most of the winter, there probably wasn't much need to go on a lot of actual hunting trips for meat...but mine is all speculation

 

[rabjr]

Well just hold on there....It didn't take long for man to make game scarce in areas of settlements. There were no game laws like we have today. Here in the northeast much of our forests were cut back making room for farmland. By the time the 1700s ended there weren't much left of deer and turkey populations here. So I'm sure if one wanted one, they had to hunt for it.

 

[roundball]

I agree that would have occurred around major population areas...I assume a lot of acreage across the rest of country probably still had the occasional deer raiding a settler's garden for the taking...
:idunno:

 

[izzyjoe]

my grandfather lived though the depression, and he said that where he lived the deer where killed off by early settlers, so they had none to shoot. but there was alot of rabbit's. so they ate alot of them. even to this day in that area there's not alot of deer, it's flat farm land and not too many tree's. and the hunting is restricted to shotgun's only.

 

[BrownBear]

My work bench/reloading bench has a window overlooking our garden. The window slide is clean and well oiled, and there's a loaded pistol on the sill. Take it from there! :grin:

 

[SgtSchutzen]

I`m sure it would have depended on how close to a population center a person lived. Game was thinned out pretty good early on in the more populated areas. There are WAY more deer and other critters here in my area than there were just 30 or so years ago. Back when I was a kid seeing a deer around here was quite an event. Now there are so many hardly a day goes by that I don`t see at least one.
I have an old Michigan hunting and fishing guide from 1944. Back then deer were so scarce that the bag limit statewide was one antlered buck a year. No antlerless deer could be taken at all. If you got lucky during the early archery season you were done till next year. Now there are so many that in some counties and areas you can buy one antlerless tag a DAY. The small game and fish bag limits were also for the most part alot smaller than they are today.

 

[biliff]

If all your neighbors started shooting game 24/7/365, game populations would decrease dramatically and the remaining animals wouldn't be strolling around in the backyard.

Deer a search on eastern deer management.

 

[LRB]

From my limited research, deer was not a favored first choice of meat in the 18th c. You ate deer when there was no pork or beef. Pig was king. People believed then, the more fat you could eat, the better for you. Deer were taken more for the hide, or as a last resort. There was not an abundance of vegans back then.

 

[roundball]

On the subject of the overall history, here's an interesting summary of the Last Few Hundred Years.
Some history experts believe that the whitetail deer went through several population stages in the past 500 years due to the hunting of them.

First Deer Hunting Period
The first historical period went up to about 1800. Massive deer hunting harvest occurred primarily at the hands of Indians during their trading with European settlers. They traded deer for things like metal wares, alcohol, textiles, guns, and promises.

Second Historical Period
The second historical period was from early to mid 1800”²s, in which the numbers of whitetail deer rebounded somewhat. This occurred mainly because of the decreased influence that Indians had on them. Also as settlers abandoned homesteads and move west, the land they had been on reverted back to the whitetails habitat. This rebounded population of the whitetail deer led to the next historical period.

Late 1800”²s
During this historical period, about 1850 to 1900, we saw an exploitation of the whitetail deer by hunters who hunted for profit, much like the Buffalo hunters. They were almost hunted to extinction, primarily for the venison meat. Railroads with refrigerated cars were available to bring the venison to many markets throughout the country. Venison was considered a delicacy of sort, many families served venison at special occasions, like Christmas. Demand for deer meat, venison, grew and markets sold what they could get.

As the deer populations decreased, laws were passed to help protect whitetails. These laws were not enforced very well or taken very seriously. Bounties were paid, by governments, for killing and trapping the natural predators of the whitetail deer like wolves and mountain lions.

It wasn’t until the federal “Lacey Act” of 1900-which prohibited interstate traffic in wild game taken in violation of state law, that there was any effective legislation passed.........

 

[HAMMERSCHILD]

To this very day. we keep a winchester 74 loaded next to the back door. Been there since before I was born. was not uncommon to set down your coffee and bust a spike in the bean patch.

 

[Lonegun1894]

I live in town, unfortunately, but my garden is a squirrel magnet, or was til I cleaned most of em out. I dont take more than I can eat, but my dog and I ate a LOT of squirrel, and now that the garden has been mostly cleaned out so I need to replant again, I am betting I will be eating more squirrel again fairly soon.

 

[HAMMERSCHILD]

I live in town, unfortunately, but my garden is a squirrel magnet, or was til I cleaned most of em out. I dont take more than I can eat, but my dog and I ate a LOT of squirrel, and now that the garden has been mostly cleaned out so I need to replant again, I am betting I will be eating more squirrel again fairly soon.

Hell ain't nuthin wrong with that. My Mothers smothered squirrel stew was hard to beat. If ya want the recipe I don't mind sharing. :grin:

 

[longcruise]

My Mothers smothered squirrel stew was hard to beat. If ya want the recipe I don't mind sharing

I'm sure it's just great, but as for me, the idea of smothering the little beggars just does not set well. :haha:

 

[cynthialee]

Last I checked my Good Book smothering is out. Diner animals have to be bleed out properly.
:grin:

 

[longcruise]

There is a restaurant in Paris that has been serving smothered duckling for many years. They have a log book of many years age that logs who they have served it too! :shocked2:

I can't remember the name of the rest. My wife would but she is not within yelling distance at the moment. :haha:

Completely irrelevant to the thread. Just thought I'd throw it in there. :grin:

 

[stormcrow]

My understanding as well. I have read whitetail population estimates as 500,000 in 1800 due to rampant market hunting. They are now estimated at 20-25 million. The best times for deer in our country is right now.

 

[cynthialee]

Well I would wager that the best time period for deer hunting would have been for the folks who first showed up to the frontier, before it got hunted out.
Todays deer population might be at all time highs since the records were started, but before the arival of the settlers the game populations must have been much higher than now.

 

[stormcrow]

Maybe not. There were alot more predators about before the settlers as well.

 

[Deadeye]

I lived in Mississippi from 1931 til 1956. We hunted all the time for squirrels, quail mostly but no Deer they wewe long since gone. In all that 26 yrs. i never saw a Deer, not even a Deer track. There were a few in the awamps along the Mississippi River, season was a week at Thanksgiving and a week at christmas for 1 buck, but now Miss. has the most whitetails of any state
and seasons are long. A few yrs. ago it was 1 deer a day and 5 in possession and season was 90 days. Switching from a cotton economy to growing soybeans helped a lot to bring them back.
Deadeye