re: What do you think the native Americans deer management consisted of

Travels through north and South Carolina, Georgia, east and west Florida by William Barttam

quote:

---

I'm reading a book about travels through the Carolinas, Georgia and florida in the 1770s by a botanist. Florida spanned to lousiana at that point and he talks a about the pearl river and maurepas. Saw several bears but never mentioned deer.

---

In the SE US, hard to rely on anything from the 1770s with regard to pre-contact conditions. DeSoto went thru in 1520s and spread lots of European diseases, followed by subsequent contacts by other european settlers. New Orleans settled in 1718 along with the rest of the gulf coast and Florida. Some posit that 90% of native americans wiped out by then, so you are looking at forests that had regenerated along with game populations.

Can you imagine trying to clean/process/preserve a deer in the South during July? A frantic race against time.

Sure, I can see making jerky in the Rockies, but the challenge in the South would be immense.