"Fishing fouling and hunting bee free:" How English Hunting was changed in New England

Social and political structures organizing hunting in England were altered significantly as English settlers made their way to New England in the seventeenth century. Prior research either focuses on English hunting in England or on the specific ways English modes of settlement disrupted the wildlife, Ingenious population, and environment. As a result, current research does not fully account for how hunting conditions in England influenced how settlers hunted in New England, nor the subsequent changes to New England's environment. I utilize sources from both England and New England to provide an Atlantic account of English hunting in New England. I find that while English settlers often turned to the kind of hunting they knew, they also understood New England as a place to reject old ways of hunting. Because hunting was a closed, elite activity in England, and out of necessity, English settlers made hunting more possible in New England. In doing so, the settlers also changed the course of New England's environment, wildlife, and the Indigenous population.