HEy John,
I'll bet that moose, buffalo, elk, etc probably inhabited a much larger portion of the lower 48 states than we think. There were probably a LOT more animals in a lot more areas before whitey came along and started shooting them and killing them with new diseases brought in by domestic cattle, sheep and goats. I'm sure that a lot of the indigenous animals were killed off by diseases that were brought in with domestic animals, just as the native populations were decimated by diseases brought in by Europeans.
I've read accounts that wild turkeys were so numerous in the eastern U.S. that there were flocks numbering almost 100. Of course, whitey and his disrespectful slaughter of animals put a real quick end to that, and it took efforts of the Nat. Wild Turkey Federation to reintroduce them into their native habitats. It really worries me, because for the most part that attitude hasn't changed, and now that humans are a global presence it means the entire planet is in jeopardy....