Native Grounds

Years ago...OK, no, centuries ago, Indiana was rich in wildlife. Particularly, we were rich in mammalian life. And, I don't necessarily mean the ice age fauna (e.g. Mastodons, Harlan's musk-ox, Giant beaver, or Saber tooth), I mean around the age of Indiana non-indigenous human settlement (early 1800's). Imagine a land full of deciduous forests with roaming elk (last recorded 1830); timber wolves (1908); black bear (1850) and expansive plains covered with bison (1832) and white-tail deer (1850). Of the mentioned, only the latter remains here naturally having been re-introduced in 1934. Currently, 57 species of mammals out of approximately 100 species have been recorded to still be making Indiana their homes. Mostly, these are rodents, bats, rabbits, shrews and moles. The largest is the White-tail Deer. Some of the 57 have been introduced rather recently in history and were never part of the 100 which remained in the 1800's. Sadly, many, if not most, are listed on the Indiana Endangered Wildlife List.





The reason I bring this up is because only two miles from my house I snapped this picture.

~Elk in an Indiana field~

Wouldn't be extra cool if Indiana had reintroduced elk? They are beautiful, huge creatures with silky antlers. These guys were grazing along a typical county road while I waited for a train.

I don't want to get your hopes up (in case you were really interested in IN wildlife); these guys live inside a ten foot fence on 150 acres. It's a private hunting preserve belonging to a neighbor. On weekends, men (and presumably women) don camouflage and big hunting rifles and go hunt themselves some elk. Sadly, the elk are tame (human reared & released) and will come up to the fence to investigate a picture hunting human. I imagine they rarely hide from the other type of hunter.


I am not against hunting. I am sad that it has been the cause of extirpation or extinction of many mammals (not to mention other fauna & flora) native all over areas of North America, but done right it can provide a healthy, foraged addition to our diets. However, I do not think hunting gorgeous, massive creatures on small, cropped properties is very sporting. I love these guys. I look for them every time I go to work (they are the direct reason for the path I choose to drive to work). Of course, this is not to say there are not other reasons for the decline in mammalian diversity in Indiana. I could mention monocropping of corn & soy beans, urban sprawl and just poor management, but then what would I bitch about later?? :-)

I would love to see them truly wild. An impossibility in my Indiana lifetime.