During this historical period, about 1850 to 1900, we saw an exploitation of the whitetail deer by hunters who hunted for profit, much like the Buffalo hunters. They were almost hunted to extinction, primarily for the venison meat. Railroads with refrigerated cars were available to bring the venison to many markets throughout the country. Venison was considered a delicacy of sort, many families served venison at special occasions, like Christmas. Demand for deer meat, venison, grew and markets sold what they could get. As the deer populations decreased, laws were passed to help protect whitetails. These laws were not enforced very well or taken very seriously. Bounties were paid, by governments, for killing and trapping the natural predators of the whitetail deer like wolves and mountain lions. It wasn't until the federal "Lacey Act" of 1900-which prohibited interstate traffic in wild game taken in violation of state law, that there was any effective legislation passed. The "Lacey Act" was meant to help protect and restore the whitetail deer, along with other game animals and birds. Also at this historical time, deer hunting activity and pressure decreased because the whitetail deer were becoming scarce. At the turn of the century, in 1900, estimates of our nations total whitetail deer herd were about 500,000 animals (that's less than half of what Minnesota has today, in 2006). By this time very few hunters were hunting the whitetail deer.