7/7/2023 0 Comments Hunted deer![]() Jones is professor emeritus of history at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and has received numerous awards for his Civil War books and outdoor articles.Deer hunting is a popular activity in Victoria. That story will be the subject of next month’s column.ĭr. As a result, the deer herd began to plummet. Unfortunately, the arrival of the French introduced more hunters who were armed with deadly flintlock muskets. The Attakapas, who inhabited the prairies and marsh country of southwest Louisiana, reportedly used relays to run deer to exhaustion.Īs long as native populations hunted Louisiana’s deer with bows and arrows, the deer herd remained stable. This deer chase was said to have been as much for entertainment as a way to gather food. The French claimed they would find a deer and then surround it with as many as 100 men who chased the deer from side to side until it finally fell from exhaustion and was killed. Drives were also made through known bedding thickets to run deer to standers.įor the Natchez, deer hunting was sometimes a communal effort. Sometimes standers were placed at strategic escape points on the prairies and marshes, and the grass was set on fire to push the deer toward them. Woods fires were common, and the hunters knew the natural smell of smoke would not alarm their prey. Like modern-day hunters, Native Americans even used cover scents such as the smoke of a red oak fire. Some hunters were so adept at deer mimicry that members of other tribes would stalk them. They then either wore the decoy or carried it in one hand and used mimicking motions and calls to draw their quarry near. They also knew the usefulness of deer decoys and often caped out the carcass, stretched it on a cane hoop, and cured it with smoke. They hid in trees and camouflaged themselves with leafy branches and eased into known bedding areas hours before daylight to bushwhack the deer in the morning. Modern hunters would recognize many indigenous tactics. Usually only the best hunters were allowed to participate the less-skilled either stayed home or tagged along to do the grunt work of skinning and butchering. A “long hunt” involved traveling many miles to good hunting grounds and could last for weeks. While women sometimes went along, they were there only to skin the animals and carry the meat back to the village. A “short hunt” entailed heading out a few miles to temporary camps and hunting for a few days. Because deer were concentrated in certain places, Indigenous peoples sometimes had to hunt away from home. Similar to modern hunters preparing food plots, Native Americans also planted the seeds of browse that deer and other wildlife preferred to eat. Only 1/2- to 1-inch in length, they are what many people refer to as “bird points.”Įarly French explorers noted how Louisiana’s Natives practiced deer management by control burning the piney woods and marsh country to open up the underbrush, kill ticks and other vermin, and create browse for deer. Hunting arrows were tipped with surprisingly small stone points. Such bows’ pull were usually just 40 to 50 pounds, but some archers could consistently hit targets up to 120 yards. One ancient Caddo bow discovered in a burial site had a leather grip and recurved tips that would rival any longbow manufactured today. Feather fletching was taken from hawks or turkey and were either glued on the shaft or tied with wet deer sinew. Bowstrings were constructed from twisted deerskin, fiber or bark, and arrows from switch cane, dogwood, or hickory. Made from hickory or Osage orange (bois d’arc), they were sophisticated and deadly. Before the Europeans’ arrival, Native Americans were almost entirely archery hunters, and the Caddo of northwest Louisiana had some of the finest bows in America. ![]() The Choctaw even had chiefs who governed deer hunting. Acorns were plentiful in the fall and winter, but there was little for deer to eat the rest of the year.ĭespite there being relatively few areas where deer thrived, Native Americans hunted them with a passion. Even the Mississippi and Atchafalaya floodplains had far fewer deer than today because browse couldn’t grow under the thick canopy. In the old days, as much as two-thirds of the state was open prairie or virgin pine forests that were almost devoid of deer. Today’s herd is nearly three times larger. Biologists estimate that the Louisiana deer herd was between 250,000 and 400,000 animals when the French arrived in 1699. However, if they did have the proverbial time machine they might just be surprised at what they’d find. Sportsmen often imagine hunting deer long ago when the land was wild and untouched by modern civilization.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |