![]() Feather fletching was taken from hawks or turkey and were either glued on the shaft or tied with wet deer sinew. Bowstrings were constructed from twisted deerskin, fiber or bark, and arrows from switch cane, dogwood, or hickory. Made from hickory or Osage orange (bois d’arc), they were sophisticated and deadly. Before the Europeans’ arrival, Indians were almost entirely archery hunters, and the Caddo of northwest Louisiana had some of the finest bows in America. The Choctaw even had chiefs who governed deer hunting. Acorns were plentiful in the fall and winter, but there was little for deer to eat the rest of the year.ĭespite there being relatively few areas where deer thrived, Native Americans hunted them with a passion. ![]() Even the Mississippi and Atchafalaya floodplains had far fewer deer than today because browse couldn’t grow under the thick canopy. In the old days, as much as two-thirds of the state was open prairie or virgin pine forests that were almost devoid of deer. ![]() Today’s herd is nearly three times larger. Biologists estimate that the Louisiana deer herd was between 250,000 and 400,000 animals when the French arrived in 1699. However, if they did have the proverbial time machine they might just be surprised at what they’d find. Sportsmen often imagine hunting deer long ago when the land was wild and untouched by modern civilization.
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