66 SECOND BIENNIAL EEPORT [W. VA. 



Virginia Deer, Odccolieus americanus Exr. 



The Virginia deer and its northern subspecies, O. a. borealis, or northern 

 Virginia deer, were once abundant in all sections of the State. It is still 

 rather plentiful in some of our forest wilds and is justly esteemed as our 

 finest game animal. Probably those that r"emain here are of the northern 

 subspecies which is larger than the true Virginia * deer, with heavier horns 

 and shows a greater contrast between the red summer coat and gray winter 

 coat. The respective ranges of the two have never been worked out carefully 

 within our limits. 



In early days venison and buckskin were almost indispensible articles in the 

 home of the settler. Fortunately, deer were so plentiful that the supply of 

 these commodities was usually ample. Many stories are told by old hunters 

 which illustrate the former abundance of this animal. Mr. Van Buren 

 Arbogast, who still lives at Durbin, Pocahontas county, has tilled, according 

 to records he has kept, over 600 deer. Hu Maxwell states that in 1841 three 

 men named Mace, Harper and Stalnaker, living in the upper end of Eandolph 

 county, entered into a partnership to hunt to raise money to pay for land. 

 They killed in one season 169 deer and 49 bears and carried the meat to 

 Clover Lick where they sold it at three cents a pound. (History of Eandolph 

 County, p. 296.) Emerson Carney, of Morgantown, writing to Forest and 

 Stream, says that as late as 1900 a hunter named John Burner killed during 

 the season 35 deer and 3 bears, besides other small game, all in the mountains 

 of Pocahontas county. 



Such wholesale killing is, of course, deplorable and, at present, is impossible 

 on account of the scarity of deer. The protective laws which we have at pres- 

 ent, if continued and enforced, will doubtless result in the near future in an 

 increased number of this and other species of game animals. 



Elk or Eastern Wapiti, Cerrus canadensis Exr.. 



This animal, although for many years extinct in our limits, was once of 

 rather common occurrence in our higher mountain regions. Mr. Van Buren 

 Arbogast, of Durbin, can remember when his father, Moses Arbogast, saw a 

 herd of seven elk in that region in 1845. He remembers also that his father 

 killed an elk on the head of the West Fork of Greenbrier river but does not 

 recall the year. John P. Hale, in his book entitled "Trans-Allegheny Pio- 

 neers," states that probably the last elk killed east of the Ohio river was 

 killed by Billie Young, on Two Mile creek of Elk river, about five and a half 

 miles from Charleston, in 1820. Hu Maxwell, in his history of Eandolph 

 county, however, shows that elk were killed in West Virginia after that date. 

 He states that one was shot by the wife of Thomas B. Summer field at a deer 

 lick near the Sinks of Grandy, probably about 1830. Abraham Mullenix killed 

 one near the same place sometime near 1835. About the year 1840 an elk 

 was killed in Eandolph county near the mouth of Eed creek. According to 

 Maxwell three elk were killed in Caanan valley (now Tucker county), by the 

 Flanagans and Joab Carr about 1843. This is the last killing of elk in West 

 Virginia that is recorded, so far as I am able to learn. The killing of the 

 three in Caanan valley was two years previous to the seeing of the herd of 

 seven, near Dnrbin, by Moses Arbogast and it is probable that others were 

 killed later of which no records were kept. 



