A. H. Bogardus, a hunter and traveler who lived 
in Menard County, Illinois, in 1857, and who 
recorded his impressions in the book, Field, Cover 
and Trap Shooting, published in 1874, is quoted 
by Leopold (1931:194): “It is often supposed that 
it(the deer) likes best to range in the vast forests, 
but I believe that to be a mistake. Deer are most 
fond of country in which there are belts of timber- 
land and brush interspersed with prairies and 
savannahs.” 
Fig. 2. -- Fawn, about 1 week old, on the Rock 
River range. 
Faunistic records of early Illinois were often 
colorful but frequently they lacked preciseness. 
Nevertheless, they reflected something of the 
general trend of deer populations. Apparently 
deer numbers in Illinois did not change materially 
until after the settlement of the state had pro- 
gressed somewhat. In 1821, John Woods (1822: 
193), who had bought land in Edwards County 2 
years before, observed that “Deer are not very 
numerous. I suppose, I have seen about 100, but 
never more than five or six together.” 
Some increase in the deer population seemed 
to be evident in the late 1830’s. Jones (1838: 
212) wrote, “Deer are more abundant than at the 
first settlement of the country. They increase, to 
a certain extent, with the population. The reason 
for this appears to be, that they find protection 
in the neighborhood of man from the beasts of prey 
that assail them in the wilderness.” 
Wood (1910:516) evidently believed that the 
peak of Illinois deer abundance was reached in 
the middle. of the nineteenth century. He stated, 
4 
in reference to the “part of the country” of which 
he wrote (east-central Illinois), “As the wolves 
were killed or driven off, the deer became more 
plentiful, reaching their greatest abundance be- 
tween 1845 and 1855.” The importance of pre- 
dation as a limiting factor appears to have been 
overestimated by Wood, while the favorable effect 
of an increase in suitable habitat was overlooked. 
Present-day research on deer requirements has 
revealed that deer populations may be expected 
to increase whenever additional browse becomes 
available, as was the case in connection with 
many of the early lumbering and clearing oper- 
ations. 
It may be well to compare the time and cause 
of the population build-up among Illinois deer 
with the time and cause of build-ups of deer in 
Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Madson (1953:101) 
pointed to an increase of deer in many areas of 
Iowa in the early 1850’s. At that time “heavily 
timbered tracts were being cleared, and deer 
habitat was improving.” Swift (1946:8) cited “a 
Wisconsin newspaper item of 1853” which “stated 
that farmers along the Wisconsin-Illinois border, 
during a winter of deep snow, killed many deer 
with clubs to save their hay from being eaten by 
these starving animals.” He noted that southern 
Wisconsin at the time of its settlement had a tre- 
mendous amount of forest “edge” and that there- 
fore “conditions were highly ideal for deer.” From 
Donald McLeod’s History of Wiskonsan, written in 
1846, Swift (1946:12) quoted this sentence: “But 
what seems very remarkable is that ever since the 
departure of the red man to the west of the Missis- 
sippi, the deer seem to have increased threefold.” 
Barnes (1945:5) presented figures and dates that 
indicated Indiana saw its greatest deer population 
before’ 1878, probably about the middle of the 
nineteenth century. Like Swift (1946:17) and 
Madson (1953:101), he associated an increase in 
deer numbers with clearing or pioneer farming 
operations. “The small pioneer farm created more 
‘edge,’ which temporarily increased the number of 
deer,” Barnes wrote. 
Available information, then, seems to indicate 
that deer populations of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, 
and southern Wisconsin reached their peaks at 
about the same time, approximately the middle of 
the nineteenth century, and for the same reason, 
increases in habitat favorable to deer. 
Initially the settlers and resident Indians 
killed deer for their own use. Subsequently, kill- 
ing and selling of deer became a common practice. 
Woods (1822:194), who arrived in Edwards County, 
