50 of the beating. They were the ideal animal. Idolized as the prime animal to hunt in the forests of Illinois. It too was romanticized. It’s the Illinois state mammal. People mounted the heads over their mantles as trophies. Bucks with the greatest number of points on their antlers were prized specifically. The hunting of deer got to extreme levels. Take this picture for example. A trend can be seen starting from when the European colonists began to spread west in the mid 1700’s. From then on it took a drastic hit that nearly drove the deer into extinction. By the early 1900’s, deer species across all of the United States, not just the Fox River, nearly went extinct, and America almost lost a symbol of freedom.12 But America didn’t lose that symbol, that idol of freedom. People noticed. They realized that they no longer were seeing deer in their yards. They were nowhere to be found on any land, and it was a rare find to actually see one.13 So people began to protect the deer. The government developed rules for hunting games and put them into place. Agencies formed to protect the different species that were hunted, and by 1900, most states had hunting agencies.14 Illinois got its first “Game Wardens” in 1885, and from there conservation became vital to save them from an 12 Coffey, R. Kelley. “White-Tailed Deer.” Appalachian Voices. The Appalachian Voice, September 1, 2004. https://appvoices.org/2004/09/01/2724/. 13 George, Emily. “The White-Tailed Deer: From Near-Extinction to Flourishment in the Southeast.” Realtree Camo, September 19, 2018. 14 “History of the Conservation Police.” State of Illinois Main Site. Figure 23 Deer Population in North America (1450-2000)
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