Hunting is big in Tennessee, but it wasn't always that way. The white-tail deer population had mostly disappeared by the late 1800's, having been hunted to the point of extinction in Tennessee. By late 1940's there were fewer than 1,000 deer in the entire state. Fortunately, successful restocking efforts began quietly in the 1930’s through the 1980’s, and protective game laws have now resulted in a deer population with an annual harvest now exceeding 160,000 animals.