276 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vol. XXIV, 1917 
Quotation from the “Biographical and Historical Record of 
Greene and Carroll Counties of Iowa,” published in 1887 by the 
Lewis Publishing Company, of Chicago. About Greene county: 
“Game such as deer and elk was in great abundance until the 
winter of 1855-56. The snows of that winter were so deep that 
it was impossible for them to escape the pursuit of men and 
dogs, and the number destroyed seems almost incredible. It is 
said that they were overtaken by men, boys, and even women, 
and beaten to death with clubs. Since then there has scarcely 
been an elk or deer seen within the county. Their rapid and 
sudden disappearance astonished everyone.” 
Quotation about Carroll county, from same publication : 
“When the first settlers came, deer, elk and antelope were not 
plentiful, the Indians having hunted them down and thinned 
their numbers. Still venison, could be had without much trouble, 
and deer became annually more plentiful for several years. 
“Antelope were occasionally seen but soon disappeared.” 
Indirect quotation from another county history of Carroll 
county. On June 7, 1864, a buffalo was shot in Carroll county. 
Deer ( Odocoileus am eric ami s) . There were many deer till 
1855-56, when in snow about three feet deep on the level, the 
wolves and men killed nearly all (3). Another man said that 
there were practically no deer for four or five years after this 
winter ; then the deer increased and were most numerous from 
1865 to 1870 1 . He further stated that one hunter killed thirty deer 
as fast as he could shoot, at Mason’s grove in Crawford county; 
and that over one hundred and fifty were killed by the settlers 
of that grove during the winter of 1855-56. The saddles (two 
hind quarters) of these deer were sold for fifty cents each in 
Sioux City (4) . 
The deer stayed on the prairies and hid in the rushes and tall 
grass around the ponds in summer, and took refuge in the hol- 
lows and cuts of the hills in winter (7). If there were any cleer 
in the county they were always to be found between the Boyer 
river and Indian creek where these come nearest to each other 
(4). Pour deer were killed near Lake View in 1880 (6), prob- 
ably the last in the southern part of the county, although one 
was killed about 1890 in northern Sac county by George .Cory, 
Tom Gary, and the Basler boys (3). 
