Bison, Deer, and Elk Had Also Gone Extinct in North America?

I'm curious if the Ice Age and Archaic Period of extinction of these large mammals that provided a stable way of life in the Hunter-Gatherer and Nomadic would have shifted North American Native socities toward a more agricultural based society early on?
 
Large animals help keep undergrowth down so the forests are going to be a nightmare to navigate. And without large herbivores leather, bone, and antler are going to be a lot harder to come by. I suspect dog is going to become a big part of the diet. It might promote agriculture but until it's invented life is going to be very difficult.

I should also say that agriculture in N America was really held back by the lack of suitable plants. As soon as they were introduced farming took off. Since those came from central America I don't think this would really accelerate the process.
 
That is certainly another important aspect, I wonder how their absence may have contributed to the creation or extinction of a suitable crop emerged/emerging in North America.
 
Caribou might spread even bit more southwards, while pronghorn might form "mega-herds" on prairie (bisons were partly able to form them, because of extinction of other prairie ungulates). overally, cougar and wolf would loose significant part of their prey, so I expect dramatic decline in numbers.. grizzly might become far more herbivorous (just like the european bears).
 
Other things would rather quickly take their place. Some bears split off to become either mainly or entirely herbivorous in some areas, taking say, Elk's place there. Or maybe a mooses place, assuming they are included in "deer"

Cougars' and wolves' numbers would decline dramatically, maybe to extinction n some places. Where they do survive they would become smaller, and travel in smaller groups. That would probably make the undometicatable. If humans domesticate before this happens, then many North Americans would probably selectively breed dogs more, leading to a greater variety of dog breeds. Some would be more geared towards working, eventually leading to the pet dogs, while others would be bred to be like sheep or cows or probably most like pigs. They would keep a group of them, and feed them the scraps of other kinds of animals fattening them for the harvest.

Pronghorns and stuff may spread North, forming large plains communities.

Maybe south american creatures fill niches. Peccaries fill the roles of deer. this could cause jaguars to follow them, taking a place as a prime hunter in the southern US and in Mexico. That is if the wolves have already primarily retreated to the North West and East.

Caribou could reach in from the north, probably reaching Upper New York State or so. That is assuming that they aren't included with the deer family.

Native Americans would probably be relatively confined to rivers and seaboards, because the Pronghorns of the plains wouldn't provide near the amount of food as a bison. Eskimos or Eskimo like cultures would probably be dominant in the north, reaching maybe to Long Island.

Natives on Rivers would have a benefit relying on fishing and breeding sheep/cow/pig dogs, they may be some of the first cultures in the world to develop farming, assuming they could get their hands on either south/central american crop packages or that the OTL deer did indeed wipe out some plant(s). They could develop relatively on par with everyone else, the real split in tech coming once Asia and Europe start to actively trade, the Americas would probably fall behind.

Once Europeans reach the Americas they find relatively successful empires clinging to waterways. The empires are advanced enough and populated enough that Europeans can't do a lot of colonizing. They instead to turn primarily to trade, in the process exchanging diseases. The Americans would have the problems they had OTL, but so would the Europeans, who were still in recovery from Black Death.

Well, that's it for my wall of text.
 
Does 'deer' include only the white-tail and mule deer species, or moose too? In any event, the big herbivores left will be pronghorns, caribou, musk oxen, peccaries, sheep, mountain goats, and (possibly) moose. Since 'nature abhors a vacuum', one of these critters is likely to emerge as a big-herd plains grazer. Pronghorns are the best bet, since they are already grazers and already right there on the plains. Since this POD is taking place way back at 'end of the ice age' times, nature will have a lot of time to adjust. It's likely that caribou will found further south (in OTL, they ranged as far south as Glacier Park in historic times), and sheep are likely to wander down from the mountains and establish themselves. Cougars aren't likely to be affected much, since they are pretty adaptable in their diet, and will switch to other big prey. Wolves will have it harder, without bison and elk; they have no chance of catching pronghorns.
 
Given that deer didnt go extinct in Europe or Asia, I doubt theyd be killed of in North America.

Bison also survived in Europe, although thetre critically endangered; and 'elk' arent even endangered. (Neither Cervus nor Alces, so neither definition of elk was killed off.)
 
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