TENIifESSEE MAMMAL.S — KELLOGG 295 



then three persons set forward with the dogs, always following the 

 deer against the wind. When the deer was started, the hunters fired 

 as he passed their posts. 



Obion County, according to Williams (1930, p. 153), longer than 

 any other, remained a good hunting ground for deer. Hallock, writ- 

 ing in 1877 (pp. 152-153), states that deer were then hunted around 

 Reelfoot Lake, Obion County, and in the vicinity of Trimble, Dyer 

 County, that tliere were deer near Hales Point, Lauderdale County, 

 and that deer afforded good sport in the canebrakes below Memphis, 

 Shelby County. He also saj's that deer were then found in abundance 

 along the Cumberland River, Davidson County, in the mountains in 

 the vicinity of Sewanee, Franklin County, and also in the mountains 

 in the vicinity of Wauhatchie and Chattanooga, Hamilton County. 



During the following 15 years, the number of deer was markedly 

 reduced in many of these areas. A. B. Wingfield (1895, p. 515) states 

 that "the Cumberland Mountain range has been almost entirely 

 depleted of its stock of deer" and that 248 carcasses of deer were 

 shipped from Crossville, Cumberland County, during 1894. The 

 Tennessee State Legislature in 1895 passed a law prohibiting the 

 killing of deer for 5 years in Cumberland, Claiborne, Scott, Morgan, 

 and Anderson Counties. Rhoads (1896, p. 180) was told that there 

 were then about 20 deer in Haywood County. 



Komarek and Komarek (1938, p. 161) report that several deer were 

 seen near Cades Cove, Blount County, and also near Cosby, Cocke 

 County, and that until hunting was prohibited with the establish- 

 ment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, several were 

 taken each year in the Butlei* Tract near Gregory Bald, Blount 

 County. 



CERVUS CANADENSIS CANADENSIS Erxleben: Eastern Elk, or Wapiti 



Curiously enough, although there are numerous references to other 

 kinds of game, only incidental reference is made to elk in the ac- 

 counts left by early hunters, settlers, and travelers. 



James Needham, who was sent in 1673 on a trading expedition to 

 the Cherokee towns in southeastern Tennessee, wrote in his journal 

 (Williams, 1928, p. 27) that while traveling down the valley 

 bounded by the Holston River and Bays Mountains, he observed a 

 "great store of game, all along as turkes, deere, elkes, beare, woolfe 

 and other vermin." 



Ramsey (1853, p. 206) remarks that when the settlers arrived at 

 the Bluff [Nashville] in 1779-80, the surrounding region was "one 

 large plain of woods and cane, frequented by buffaloes, elk, deer, 

 wolvas, foxes and panthers." Putnam (1859, p. 81) likewise states 

 that "innumerable herds of buffalo, deer and elk came to the "sul- 



