Sale of Game Meat

Introduction

Game meat represents a healthy, and often cost-effective, means of providing food for many households throughout the United States. Recently, interest in the preparation of game meat has seen tremendous growth thanks to high profile chefs and hunters who have championed the locavore movement. While this increased interest brings a lot of promise as it relates to the recruitment, retention, and reactivation of hunters, it has also led some to advocate on behalf of what they see as potentially lucrative markets for game meat among those who are not interested in hunting for or preparing the meat themselves. Coupled with increased calls from some to create a market to incentivize increased harvest as a way to mitigate crop depredation, these efforts seek to essentially reinstitute a culture of market hunting nearly a century after such markets were originally defeated. For sportsmen and women, particularly those who grew up during the days of “buck only” hunting seasons for white-tailed deer that were once common throughout the eastern United States, this newfound call for the commercialization of game meat is the antithesis of conservation as we know it today.

The history of professional wildlife management in the United States provides a plethora of examples that highlight the disastrous impacts of market hunting. Species such as white-tailed deer, wild turkey, and wood ducks, among others, took decades to recover. In some parts of the country, other once iconic species never revived. While it would be irresponsible to fail to attribute some of these challenges to changing land use practices resulting in habitat loss, accounts by hunters throughout the 19^th and early 20^th centuries depict populations of some game species that today are unimaginable. The accounts also depict hunters who, to earn a living in some harsher areas of the country, harvested game at rates that are hard to envision today.

Recognizing the detrimental effects of market hunting, sportsmen and women were among the first to raise their voices and call for regulations necessary to ensure the sustainability of our nation’s wildlife resources. Thanks to the willingness of America’s original conservationists to play a role in ensuring the conservation of our nation’s public trust wildlife resources, we have experienced nearly a century of conservation success stories that would have been impossible if market hunting were still legal.

History

The selling of legally harvested game meat is not allowed in most states today for conservation reasons that date back to the 19^th century after sportsmen and women recognized the disastrous effects of market hunting on the once abundant game found throughout much of the United States. As a result of market hunting, which saw its peak in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, many of today’s most popular species, including waterfowl, bison, and white-tailed deer, were nearly driven to extinction by the beginning of the 1900s. These animals were harvested, at that time legally, for the sole purpose of providing meat and animal parts for sale at markets. As a result of the financial rewards, market hunters flocked to the field to harvest these animals.

In the 1800s, bison numbers were depleted from roughly 60 million down to a few hundred as a result of market hunting encouraged by the highest level of government. These activities were, at least in part, a component of policies designed to eliminate perceived threats posed by Native American populations during the period of rapid westward expansion. While not solely tied to meat and hide markets, these practices highlight the role that markets can play in threatening not only game populations, but also the cultures that are so closely linked to game species throughout our nation. Consequently, one of the last populations of bison in the United States could be found in the Yellowstone National Park where hunting and poaching were still commonplace. As a result of efforts led by George Bird Grinnell to raise awareness of the dire situation facing bison populations in North America, market hunting of bison underwent the imposition of strict regulations so that the species numbers could increase again. Today there are roughly 500,000 bison left in North America. A small fraction of those, less than 350 in the United States, are descendants from the bison that roamed the American Plains while the remainder are on the landscape today due to strong human intervention through farming and relocation efforts.

By 1901, the number of wood ducks and other waterfowl were significantly reduced, though an exact estimation of the number of waterfowl left in 1901 is hard to determine. Waterfowl during the 18^th century and early 19^th century were hunted to sell their meat and feathers on the market, in part, to support a burgeoning European hat industry. The market hunting of these birds resulted in such catastrophically low numbers that the United States stepped in and implemented the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Fortunately, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the ending of market hunting of waterfowl helped reestablish the populations of waterfowl in North America. According to the most recent breeding population survey, there are an estimated 2.3 million breeding ducks in North America.

Points of Interest

• One of the most influential pillars of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation states that wildlife cannot be killed for commercial use. Though the Model does permit the harvest of wildlife for legitimate and non-frivolous purposes, the sale of harvested game meat is widely seen as inconsistent with the Model.
• Drawing on the conservation success stories for many of the nation’s most popular game species that have recovered since initial prohibitions on game meat markets, any effort to recreate markets for game species represents a significant threat to the future of our nation’s sportsmen-led conservation efforts.
• In some cases, legal markets may be used as an added incentive when hunting is used as a population management tool for non-native, invasive species, such decisions are left to state authority and regulations.
  • Under strict regulation by Florida agencies, meat from legally harvested wild pig may be sold by licensed dealers.
  • Selling wild hog meat is also legal in Texas, if inspected by the state commission.

Moving Forward

In response to the devastating effects of market hunting near the turn of the 20^th century, the prohibition of market hunting, coupled with the other tenets of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, has led to some of the greatest conservation success stories in the world. While hunting continues to be an important conservation tool that subsequently provides a quality source of meat for many families, markets for game species represent a unique threat to our wildlife resources who have demonstrated their susceptibility to financially motivated overharvest. Recognizing this, it is important for sportsmen and women to oppose efforts to recreate these markets for game meat. While markets for game meat may appear to represent a unique opportunity to support rural economies, historical perspectives regarding their consequences make clear that such markets should be strongly opposed.