So Great Was the Slaughter

By 1925, market hunters had harvested almost every deer, bear, turkey, and quail population in the state of Arkansas, having completely eradicated bison, the prairie chicken, and the passenger pigeon. The national demand for meat and the ability to transport meat to cities like Memphis, Chicago, Cincinnati, New Orleans, and St. Louis had driven many wild species near or to extinction. In So Great Was the Slaughter, Buck Foster gives an account of the rise of sportsmen and other conservation groups who successfully rallied to end market hunting and create a sustainable legal framework for managing wildlife.