IV.

Game and Game Management

Game animals are hunted throughout the world. In North America, deer, elk, bear, pronghorn, caribou, rabbit, squirrel, duck, goose, pheasant, and wild turkey are hunted. Among the animals hunted in Asia are elephant, tiger, wild sheep, deer, bear, rabbit, waterfowl, and pheasant. African safari-hunting offers opportunity to bag a diversity of game: Cape buffalo, elephant, lion, antelope, and duck and other wild fowl. European hunters generally go out for wild boar, fox, red stag, rabbit, and various game birds. Jaguar, peccary, deer, duck, dove, and turkey are popular quarry in Central and South America.

Unregulated hunting has at various times threatened the existence of some game animals. Prime examples of this occurred in the United States in the 19th century, when egrets were decimated for their plumes, used in millinery. Buffalo herds (see Bison) that once numbered in the millions were also virtually wiped out by hunters intent on profit and enjoyment; by 1895 only 400 buffalo remained in the country. Hunters took their toll on other wildlife as well. Pronghorn, deer, and mountain sheep were decimated to feed the growing population in the West. In the East, waterfowl populations plummeted as hunters armed with cannonlike guns wiped out entire flocks in one shot and then shipped the birds to restaurants to satisfy exotic tastes. Some game birds, such as the passenger pigeon and the heath hen, were hunted into extinction by people who believed the game supply to be infinite.

Public outcries eventually forced some states in the 19th century to pass laws protecting certain animals. During an expedition to the Yellowstone region in 1871, photographer William Henry Jackson and artist Thomas Moran depicted the countryside. These images persuaded the American public and the U.S. government to preserve the area. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a bill creating Yellowstone National Park in 1872. The setting aside of other such national parks, where wildlife may not be hunted, soon followed (see National Park Service). In 1900, Congress passed the Lacey Act, which put a damper on commercial market hunting by regulating the interstate shipment of game. Other federal and state laws were passed in subsequent years, establishing hunting seasons, limiting the daily allowable kill of game per hunter, outlawing unfair and inhumane hunting methods, and making it illegal to hunt species in danger of becoming extinct. See also Endangered Species.

With strictly enforced regulations, the number of game animals began to increase. This, in itself, caused problems. As human settlements spread across the country, predatory animals such as the wolf and grizzly bear were either killed off or forced into remote regions. Unchecked by these natural enemies and protected by hunting laws, game animals such as deer and elk reproduced so rapidly that they would eat all the available food in their range, and then many would die of starvation.

In 1933 American biologist Aldo Leopold developed a theory that each unit of habitat can support only so many animals of a given species, and that excess animals must be cropped by hunters or allowed to die. Since that time, game laws have been designed so that hunters crop the annual surplus of game animals without threatening actual game populations. Such regulations, which make hunting a crucial part of game management, have allowed wildlife to thrive in the United States. Other nations, notably those in Africa, have also followed this precept, but nonetheless illegal poaching for food or trophies remains a problem.