The deerskin trade between Colonial America and the Native Americans was one of the most important trading relationships between Europeans and Native Americans, especially in the southeast. It was a form of the fur trade, but less famous since deerskins were not as elnorth, like beaver. But the deerskin export was an important source of raw material for the Europe their deerskins to the French and Spanish, and the Shawnee traded deerskins with colonies to the north.
So large was the scale that in time deer became nearly extirpated in the southeast. It also radically altered the society of the Cherokee, with men increasingly absent from towns for long periods to hunt deer, and a growing Cherokee dependence on European trade goods (Davis, 2000). By 1750, deer were becoming harder to find in Cherokee territory, while the tribe was simultaneously becoming entirely dependent on European trade goods, which contributed to growing tensions and conflict between the Indians of the southeast and the Europeans (as well as conflict between tribes).
Deerskins were used to produce buckskin as well as a chamoislike leather that was used for gloves, bookbinding, and many other things. the Cherokee lived near rivers and streams
