American Bison Extinction

In our American history, we have hunted the American bison almost to extinction. In almost a century, the bison population went from roughly 60 million in 1800 to 14 million in 1870 (Lott 2003). Some people call this time, the "Great Slaughter." The military had issued orders to kill the bison. The thought of the government was that if you killed the bison, you killed the Native Americans. The hides were also great for crossing the freezing Plains of the United States, when going West was the thing to do (Folwer 2003). There were no rules for killing the bison. In fact, it was encouraged. The hides would sell for large amounts of money. Between 1872 and 1874, the major railroad companies shipped more than 1,378,000 hides and 6,751,000 …show more content…
The way the system works now, each state is in control of their animal populations. They must have enough tags filled to keep the populations in control, but also not too many to kill off a species. Each year they require hunters to report if they killed an animal or not (N&M 2105). This helps with the population count of that species. From there, the state releases so many tags the following year. The cause of over-hunting or under-hunting an area greatly affects all the populations including humans. For example, if you don 't kill enough elk one year, the farmers of grass-like plants will lose crops to the large animals and therefore, lose money and time. Elk also damage fences and building structures during runting season. Elk are smart and will get into barns, eating hay stored for horses and cows for the winter months. They are a nuisance, but especially if there are too many in one area. If you kill too many elk, the species of elk are in danger. Also this increases the chance that the herd could join with another herd and move out of the area all together. If this happens, the undergrowth of plants takes over the forest and is at greater risk for forest fires. The balance of the population control of hunted animals is really very important to all in the surrounding …show more content…
The rules in New Mexico are hugely different than in Alaska (Alaska 2015). Most animals in New Mexico are on a license system. You have to pay to put your name in a lotto for each animal and area. Then if you are drawn for your tag, you have certain dates to hunt. You have to report all your kills/no kills. In Alaska, most animals you can buy a license over the counter and go hunting that same day. (Alaska 2015). You must read the rules on where you can hunt and with what (weapon wise) but the rules are more relaxed for hunting in Alaska than in New Mexico (N&M