updated~ november 2008
I specialize in the animals that once belonged to ohio but are now gone, although sometimes I'll draw one that you can still find.

 

This used to be one of the greatest countries in the world for a great variety of game. There were the Elk. Deer, Bear. Wolf .Panther, Wildcat, Otter, Beaver. Wollynigs (wolverine), Porcupine. Raccoon, and a great variety of small animals. Of the feathered flock, there was Swans Geese, Ducks, Turkeys, Bald Eagles, Grey Eagles, Ravens, Buzzards, Crows Owls, and a great variety of small birds, that used to make the forest ring with their sweet songs as one happy family of the forest. And where are they now? The white man has thrown death and destruction among them, and they have all disappeared and gone to return no more forever. There was the Indian that was placed in the forest with his happy family of beasts and birds; he was placed in the happiest of situations of any human being, for he had everything the human heart could wish for; everything was plenty and easily got at, and he lived according to the councel that was given of old:"Give no thought of the morrow, but let evey day provide for itself".

For there was all sorts of game playing around that was for their use, and all the ponds, rivers and brooks filled with fish, and all the feathered flocks that used to live here; and there were the great forests that were filled with bees and honey in great quantities, and all sorts of wild fruits, such as whortleberries, blackberries, cranberries, blackhaws, chestnuts, hickorynuts, butternuts, &c. Can a man be placed in a pleasanter situation in life?

Recollections of an Old Settler by Christian Cackler -northeast Ohio pioneer -1874-