Bison In Ohio
Settlement
In Ohio, Bison were hunted by the Native Americans, but not to the extent that they were by the Plains Indians in the western United States. Moravian missionary, David Zeisberger, reported in the late 1700s that (in regard to the Delaware Indians he came in contact with) "...buffalo they shoot little and rarely, as the hides are too heavy and of little value, and if they shot one of these animals now and again, most of the meat is left lying in the woods, where it is consumed by wolves, or other animals or birds."
Where Prairie ecosystems existed in Ohio, Bison
Densities were at their most prolific(
Where Prairie ecosystems existed in Ohio, Bison
Densities were at their most prolific(
When European settlers first arrived in Ohio, there were many Bison throughout the state. With the arrival of settlers, the Bison population rapidly declined.
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ohiohistorycentral.org%2Fimages%2F4%2F4b%2FScioto_River_map.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ohiohistorycentral.org%2Fw%2FScioto_River&tbnid=IpH34qTYE0hj4M&vet=1&docid=d5o4vyZ27iKGcM&w=300&h=300&ved=2ahUKEwiD_qGCxfbgAhUEgFQKHagiDksQMygCegUIARCkAQ
By 1790, few, if any, Bison could be found along the Ohio River. In 1795, Charles Duteil, while hunting for deer, came across a herd of Bison two miles west of Gallipolis. The event was recorded in an 1876 letter from George Graham:
Nineteenth Century
Bison were extirpated in Ohio early in the nineteenth century. The last Bison recorded in Ohio was shot and killed in Lawrence County in 1803.
3 comments:
The Europeans entered the St Lawrence River in the 1500s to trade for "Buff" hides, so called for the yellow/tan color of the untanned hides. Wars prevented the free access to various Asian and African sources of buffalo hides for shields and armor so the discovery of a source in America was crucial.
The Indians supplied the French and others with Buff hides and Champlain complained to the French King that the Spanish were buying "Buff" hides in the Potomac area.
So, until the use of "Buff" hides became obsolete in warfare there was heavy hunting of eastern Bison in America which probably contributed in a major way to their reduction.
Excellent information on motivation to heavily hunt bison east of the Mississippi in the 16th and 17th centuries......thanks for the insight
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