It's an Omen!!

[Griff]

I vote goat. Your hunter wasn't from Jersey was he?

[slang]

Originally Posted by Griff

I vote goat.

Good point. Wolf, shoot the sonofabitch next time ya see em. We need some
closeup pics for verification.

I would say goat. That critter appears to have a most un-deerlike tail, plus in relation to the rows of corn in the background, its a pretty small animal. Also, a deer would have much longer legs in proportion to its body. There is a species of deer native to parts of Europe and Asia called the "fallow deer" (Dama dama ) which has a commonly occuring white phase. Some were brought to the US and now roam near the Argonne Lab outside of Chicago. It's possible, I suppose, that one might have strayed down to your part of the world, but unlikely since they prefer to remain in herds. By the application of all of the above and Occam's razer, I'd have to vote "goat"!

[Undertoad]

Yes, I've seen some dissent in passing that says the native americans stripped the land bare in several instances.

Today we have the technology to get resources without doing so much damage. Except for the fossil fuels, in a lot of cases it seems we've come full circle -- getting productive enough to strip the hell out of the land, and then getting productive enough to get those resources without messing things up so much.

I read where a great deal of the forest land in the NE US was cut away at some point and now it is back because it is managed well, even with cities encroaching.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I read where a great deal of the forest land in the NE US was cut away at some point and now it is back because it is managed well, even with cities encroaching.

The East Coast was the first part of this country to be settled. The forests were cut down so people could farm the land. Through much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, you can walk through the woods and come to old stone walls that used to mark the edges of farmers' fields.

Now the farms are in the South, the Midwest, and California.

It has nothing to do with good forest management. The weather in those other regions just allows a longer growing season. When the farmers left, the trees grew back.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The forests in the Northeast belonged to the King and he had them cut and carried off wholesale. The locals were paid to cut and ship them and then left to farm the cleared land.
Trouble is the hilly, rockey, NE was ok for pasture but almost impossible to grow profitable crops. The ones that stayed had dairy farms and several acres of garden to feed the family. The ones that wanted to grow grains went west.
When firewood went out of vogue, the forests came back.