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Fast Company
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fast Company
How white-tailed deer came back from the brink of extinction
Given their abundance in American backyards, gardens and highway corridors these days, it may be surprising to learn that white-tailed deer were nearly extinct about a century ago. While they currently number somewhere in the range of 30 million to 35 million, at the turn of the 20th century, there were as few as 300,000 whitetails across the entire continent: just 1% of the current population. This near-disappearance of deer was much discussed at the time. In 1854, Henry David Thoreau had written that no deer had been hunted near Concord, Massachusetts, for a generation. In his famous ' Walden,' he reported: 'One man still preserves the horns of the last deer that was killed in this vicinity, and another has told me the particulars of the hunt in which his uncle was engaged. The hunters were formerly a numerous and merry crew here.' But what happened to white-tailed deer? What drove them nearly to extinction, and then what brought them back from the brink? As a historical ecologist and environmental archaeologist, I have made it my job to answer these questions. Over the past decade, I've studied white-tailed deer bones from archaeological sites across the eastern United States, as well as historical records and ecological data, to help piece together the story of this species. Precolonial rise of deer populations White-tailed deer have been hunted from the earliest migrations of people into North America, more than 15,000 years ago. The species was far from the most important food resource at that time, though. Archaeological evidence suggests that white-tailed deer abundance only began to increase after the extinction of megafauna species like mammoths and mastodons opened up ecological niches for deer to fill. Deer bones become very common in archaeological sites from about 6,000 years ago onward, reflecting the economic and cultural importance of the species for Indigenous peoples. Despite being so frequently hunted, deer populations do not seem to have appreciably declined due to Indigenous hunting prior to AD 1600. Unlike elk or sturgeon, whose numbers were reduced by Indigenous hunters and fishers, white-tailed deer seem to have been resilient to human predation. While archaeologists have found some evidence for human-caused declines in certain parts of North America, other cases are more ambiguous, and deer certainly remained abundant throughout the past several millennia. Human use of fire could partly explain why white-tailed deer may have been resilient to hunting. Indigenous peoples across North America have long used controlled burning to promote ecosystem health, disturbing old vegetation to promote new growth. Deer love this sort of successional vegetation for food and cover, and thus thrive in previously burned habitats. Indigenous people may have therefore facilitated deer population growth, counteracting any harmful hunting pressure. More research is needed, but even though some hunting pressure is evident, the general picture from the precolonial era is that deer seem to have been doing just fine for thousands of years. Ecologists estimate that there were roughly 30 million white-tailed deer in North America on the eve of European colonization—about the same number as today. Colonial-era fall of deer numbers To better understand how deer populations changed in the colonial era, I recently analyzed deer bones from two archaeological sites in what is now Connecticut. My analysis suggests that hunting pressure on white-tailed deer increased almost as soon as European colonists arrived. At one site dated to the 11th to 14th centuries (before European colonization) I found that only about 7% to 10% of the deer killed were juveniles. Hunters generally don't take juvenile deer if they're frequently encountering adults, since adult deer tend to be larger, offering more meat and bigger hides. Additionally, hunting increases mortality on a deer herd but doesn't directly affect fertility, so deer populations experiencing hunting pressure end up with juvenile-skewed age structures. For these reasons, this low percentage of juvenile deer prior to European colonization indicates minimal hunting pressure on local herds. However, at a nearby site occupied during the 17th century—just after European colonization—between 22% and 31% of the deer hunted were juveniles, suggesting a substantial increase in hunting pressure. This elevated hunting pressure likely resulted from the transformation of deer into a commodity for the first time. Venison, antlers and deerskins may have long been exchanged within Indigenous trade networks, but things changed drastically in the 17th century. European colonists integrated North America into a trans-Atlantic mercantile capitalist economic system with no precedent in Indigenous society. This applied new pressures to the continent's natural resources. Deer—particularly their skins—were commodified and sold in markets in the colonies initially and, by the 18th century, in Europe as well. Deer were now being exploited by traders, merchants and manufacturers desiring profit, not simply hunters desiring meat or leather. It was the resulting hunting pressure that drove the species toward its extinction. 20th-century rebound of white-tailed deer Thanks to the rise of the conservation movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, white-tailed deer survived their brush with extinction. Concerned citizens and outdoorsmen feared for the fate of deer and other wildlife, and pushed for new legislative protections. The Lacey Act of 1900, for example, banned interstate transport of poached game and—in combination with state-level protections—helped end commercial deer hunting by effectively de-commodifying the species. Aided by conservation-oriented hunting practices and reintroductions of deer from surviving populations to areas where they had been extirpated, white-tailed deer rebounded.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Few showers & storms Saturday, beautiful Sunday!
Saturday sees a secondary cold front arrive from the north, providing more scattered showers for the region, especially early. Though we will have a few showers and storms on Saturday, this front will bring in nicer weather for the second half of the weekend and we will begin to see signs of this late Saturday as a drying pattern begins. High temperatures will be in the mid 60s. One or two of those storms could provide the risk for a strong wind gust or two, especially in our southern counties near Virginia. The Storm Prediction Center has issued a level one marginal risk for severe weather for this threat. Sunday looks fantastic for any outdoor activities! We'll see plenty of sunshine with high pressure in control, along with drier air. It will be the perfect wrap to the weekend with highs in the upper 60s. Monday continues the drier and gradual warmer trend with plenty of sunshine expected and high temperatures climbing up into the mid 70s. Tuesday is also dry with a lot of sunshine expected and highs near 80 – an eastern U.S. high pressure system will allow the dry weather to continue and the heat to build. Wednesday provides yet another warm and dry day on the way. We'll see high temperatures approach the mid 80s! Our warmest day so far in 2025 is 84 degrees back on April 19th – we will have a couple of opportunities to reach that on Wednesday and Thursday! Thursday gives our region one more day where we should remain dry with a good bit of sunshine and temperatures climbing up into the mid 80s. We will see clouds on the increase as our next system approaches for Friday. High temperatures once again will be in the mid 80s – the summer-like feel will be here for sure! Cicadas returning to West Virginia in 2025: What counties will see them? Friday begins another round of unsettled weather with a system scooting toward the region. As a result, scattered showers and storms will be likely, especially by the afternoon with highs near 80. Looking ahead in your extended forecast, we are shaping up to be much warmer. Though the pattern becomes a bit more unsettled once again Saturday into Sunday, temperatures will remain in the 70s – and that warmth does not appear to be going away anytime soon. TONIGHTBreezy showers. Lows around and a couple of storms. Late day drying. Highs in the mid sunny. Highs in the upper sunny. Highs in the mid sunny. Highs near sunny. Highs in the mid sunny. Highs in the mid likely. Highs in the upper showers. Highs in the upper showers. Highs in the upper storms. Highs in the upper 70s. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
