Wildlife plays a very important role in the history of our country, dating back hundreds of centuries to the first civilizations of Native Americans. White-Tail Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) played a significant part in how the Indians survived; deer supplied the Native Americans with meat (venison), clothing, tools, a source of trade between Europeans, and ceremonial items (Howe, 2011). This being said, if anything were to happen to the population of deer to decline the Indians way of life would be greatly hindered. Much like the Indians from centuries ago, the Indians from the 21st century still utilize the deer in the same way their ancestors did, along with many other Americans that inhabit the United States. The objective …show more content…
White-tailed deer inhibit cold climate regions (Rooney, 2001), which is why their coats are so valuable to the Native Americans, because of their warmth. Indians used the hides of deer (which is also referred to as buckskin or leather) to make many of their everyday apparel and accessories like shoes, cloths (women wore short deer skin skirts in the summer and a deer skin jacket was worn in the winter along with deerskin leggings to stay warm In the winter), blankets, and bags to carry water from streams. (Walker, 2008). There are some similarities in how people today utilize animal hides just like the Indians did. Unlike the Indians from centuries ago clothing now comes from cows and pigs, but we still form leather out of these animals much like the Indians made. The way that we make these cloths out of the hides is much different though; the utilization of special machines now makes it much easier to make clothing. For the Native Americans, women are the ones that created all the clothing that was worn, sometimes taking hours to days to make. In today’s society clothing can be made very quickly with the specialized machinery that we …show more content…
Their hides were very valuable and they used them as commerce and traded them for goods that they needed, as well as using them for clothing, making hats, shoes, blankets, skirts, leggings, rugs, and containers to carry water in from streams. Deer bones, antlers, and hooves were utilized to make spears, arrows, and club points as well as fishhooks, needles, pins, weaving tools, knives, scrapers, and chisels; the Indians made use of every bit of the deer leaving nothing go to waste. When deer populations decline due to over hunting, people that use them as a food source, a source of warmth from their hides, and other miscellaneous objects that are made from them. Deer are a key component to having a healthy food web, when their populations decline other species are also affected. When deer populations get too high they start to affect the ecosystem and all the crops that are present in the area. Overgrazing effects all the shrubs and low lying vegetation along with destroying the Native Americans crops, so it is important to implement regulations on hunting to ensure that populations don’t get to high or too