Can you imagine going your whole life in the Ozarks without ever seeing a white-tailed deer?
That was a real possibility around here at one time.
I find it interesting how different the plant and animal landscape – both wild and domestic – was back in, let’s say, the time of our War Between the States (1861-1865).
When I say different, I mostly mean different in the small ways – except in cases like the white-tailed deer and the wild turkey, which had both been largely hunted out in Southwest Missouri by the mid-19th century.
I would call that a big difference between then and now, when modern conservation efforts have restored our game population.
