Hunting and trapping were the primary ways that
humans provided food, clothing and shelter for themselves,
their families and groups or tribes. This heritage
and the tradition of hunting, as old as humans themselves,
is still strong today. In addition, hunting and
trapping are important tools in managing wildlife
populations. Even though the world in which people
and wildlife live has changed much over time, hunting
and trapping still play a key role.
Because most wildlife species are very sensitive
to changes in their surroundings, they can give
us clues about changes that might affect us, too.
Have some animals disappeared because of pollution?
Is there enough food or the right kind of food to
eat?
By studying wildlife, we can learn more about where
they live, why they live there and how where they
live is important to them. You'll also start to
appreciate all animals more - - game and nongame
alike. And you'll see how important wildlife management
is to making sure that you - - and other people
- - always have wildlife to benefit from and enjoy.
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Wildlife Management Concepts
If you look in a school textbook, you'll see that
wildlife management is defined as "the science
and art of managing wildlife and its habitat, for
the benefit of the soil, vegetation and animals,
including humans."
But how do wildlife managers do that? They do it
by following a few basic rules:
- Good wildlife management must be based on solid
biological information.
- Good wildlife management must include the management
of humans, because our activities affect wildlife.
- Good wildlife management must benefit plants
and other animals, not just one species of wildlife.
- Good wildlife management must put animal numbers
at a level we can live with - - not too many and
not too few.
- Good wildlife management must balance animal
numbers with the habitat (food, shelter, water
and space) available for those animals.
- Good wildlife management must balance conservation
(wise use) of the resource - - not total preservation
(non-use) of the resource.
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The Ingredients of Good Wildlife
Management
What makes a good wildlife manager? Managers must
understand the needs of wildlife. He or she also
needs to understand the factors at work that make
for good, healthy wildlife populations.
Habitat, for example, includes all the things that
wildlife and humans need for life - - air, food,
water, shelter and space to live. When these five
habitat factors are in good supply and arranged
properly, they contribute to the well being of wildlife.
When any of these factors is in short supply, it
may limit the kinds of animals, the number of animals
and where they're found. It is then called a limiting
factor.
The arrangement of food, cover, water and space
in an area determines wildlife types, numbers and
where you'll find them. The best arrangements are
those where all of these habitat factors occur in
small blocks that are close together with enough
space to meet the needs of the animals. Also, animals
tend to use the edge areas of food plots the most,
because these areas are the closest to cover.
Carrying capacity is the number of animals an area
can support throughout the year without permanently
damaging the habitat or starving the animals. When
there are too many animals for the habitat, the
animals may eat too much of the vegetation that
makes up its food and cover. Once that vegetation
is gone, the habitat is damaged and the carrying
capacity of the area goes down. With less habitat
or poor habitat, the weaker animals will die from
disease, starvation, predators or other causes.
Fewer animals will be able to live there. As more
food and cover return, the carrying capacity goes
up again. Sometimes the vegetation is destroyed,
changing the habitat and carrying capacity.
Social tolerance is the number of animals a landowner
or the public will allow in an area. If wildlife
numbers exceed the acceptable or tolerable levels
- - for example, if deer or elk are damaging a farmer's
crops - - the animal numbers may need to be reduced.
Frequently, this tolerable level is below the carrying
capacity.
The population dynamics of a wildlife population
is the way its numbers go up and down over time.
Two major factors affect this - - the birth rate
and the death rate.
Most wildlife species have a high birth rate. In
general, the smaller-sized species of wildlife have
higher birth rates than the larger species.
The death rate of most wildlife species is also
high. The smaller sized species of wildlife have
higher death rates than the larger species. Factors
affecting the death rate are:
- Starvation is directly related to available
food in their habitat.
- Development, like housing, malls, other buildings
and roads can cut down the cover or space in their
habitat.
- Climate extremes, such as cold, snowy winters
or dry, hot summers, can reduce wildlife numbers.
- Predation from other animals like bears, mountain
lions, coyotes, wolves, foxes, skunks, raccoons,
dogs.
- Diseases and parasites can kill animals, especially
if the animals are already weak from injuries
or starvation.
- Hunting in regulated seasons reduces animal
numbers.
- Other human activities, such as animals being
hit by vehicles, getting tangled in fences, poison,
hitting power lines, being caught in fires and
poaching all take a toll on wildlife and affect
the death rate.
How and why do Wildlife numbers go up and down?
Let's look at a situation that generally occurs
each year in deer populations.
Late in the spring, the animals old enough to have
bred the previous fall begin having their young.
With the existing animal herd and their new fawns,
the deer population reaches it peak in the early
summer. The population then begins to decline because
of the factors just identified as affecting the
death rate. The decline continues through the rest
of the summer, the fall, winter and early spring
of the following year. The remaining adult and yearling
animals that survived will start the cycle all over
again.
This cycle of birth and death occurs every year.
The cycle is the same for most species of wildlife.
Sometimes, if habitat conditions are really good
and the carrying capacity goes up, animal populations
will boom. At other times, severe weather, disease,
predators or over-harvest by hunters can cause the
population to drop further than normal.
The job of the wildlife manager is to control the
numbers of animals at, or just below, the carrying
capacity of their habitat while keeping an eye on
the overall ecosystem. That way, the animals stand
the best chance of staying healthy and not harming
their habitat. The wildlife manager must also keep
animal numbers within social tolerance - - the population
level that people are willing to tolerate.
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Wildlife Management Tools
Now that we know what a wildlife manager is supposed
to do, how do they get it done? Like people in any
job, wildlife managers have tools.
Management plans describe the tools a wildlife
manager will use for keeping wildlife within the
carrying capacity of its habitat. These plans must
be flexible since the wildlife populations; habitat
factors and social tolerances may change from year
to year. It's also important to note that the best
wildlife management plan often uses a combination
of all the management tools available.
To develop a management plan, wildlife managers
must collect good information on habitat and wildlife
numbers throughout the year - - every year - - to
determine the type of tools' needed.
Hunting and Trapping
Today, hunting and trapping are closely regulated
so that some of the excess animals in a population
are removed each year. In fact, hunting and trapping
remain as one of the most important management tools
because hunters can be controlled by laws and regulations.
Hunting and trapping seasons are longer and the
harvests are greater during the years of abundant
game populations. Seasons may be shortened and harvests
smaller when game numbers are down. In this way,
hunting and trapping can be used to keep wildlife
populations healthy; to keep wildlife within the
carrying capacity of their habitat and to protect
the habitat from damage. They are also used to reduce
selected animal populations to within social tolerances,
even if the habitat and carrying capacity are good.
Research and Harvest Surveys
In order to properly manage any wildlife
species, biologists and managers must have a good
understanding of all the animals. Research allows
biologists and the rest of us to learn all we can
about animals and management. Research objectives
include:
- Identify habitat needs for individual species,
and evaluate the impacts of a variety of land
use practices;
- Study and explain the population dynamics of
wildlife under varying habitat and environmental
conditions;
- Evaluate the social and economic values of wildlife;
and
- Educate other biologists, wildlife resource
agencies, legislators and the public of the results
of the research and the needs of the animals,
habitat and the public.
Surveys are conducted annually as a vital part
of wildlife management programs. The surveys are
needed to evaluate:
- How many animals were harvested from certain
- populations or areas;
- Trends in animal population levels, habitat
conditions or crop impacts:
- Hunter pressure and over harvest patterns on
public and private land
- Basic biological information of the sex and
age of the animals harvested.
Laws and Regulations
If a species of animal is too few in number, those
animals can be protected by LAWS. Hunting can be
reduced or stopped to help lower their death rate
increasing population levels; as with threatened
or endangered species. In some cases, laws may even
be passed to protect the habitat. Laws are mostly
used when there is a need for long-term or permanent
actions.
If there are too many animals, hunting can be used
to reduce their numbers to the proper level. Hunting
regulations, for example, are often changed from
year to year to reflect changes in animal numbers.
Hunting season lengths may also be adjusted to reflect
the animal populations. Daily bag limits or harvest
quotas - - the number of animals that hunters can
take in a day or season - - can also be set larger
or smaller.
Wildlife Management Areas
Wildlife management areas provide another tool
for wildlife managers. These are lands which are
set aside for the purpose of increasing wildlife
numbers by protecting wildlife and key habitat.
One of the major goals of a wildlife management
areas is to protect at least a minimal number of
animals so the population can increase. But this
type of protection can defeat its own purpose. Deer
and elk, for example, may increase in numbers to
the point where there are too many for the available
food supply. Damage to the habitat then occurs.
If a wildlife management area is to be successful,
the management plan must be flexible so wildlife
managers can keep animals, even animals in a WMA,
in balance with their habitat.
Waterfowl refuges are perhaps the most successful
of special wildlife management areas. A waterfowl
refuge may be a breeding area, a wintering area
or a migration refuge between summering and wintering
areas. Breeding area refuges provide nesting habitat
for producing young. Wintering area refuges shelter
the birds so they can survive until the next breeding
season. A migration refuge provides a resting and
feeding spot for birds traveling to and from breeding
or wintering areas.
Wildlife Management Areas are effective only when
correctly used in combination with other management
tools. Even though an area may be managed for a
specific animal, most wildlife species benefit from
the land and management practices.
Stocking can be used as a management tool to start
new wildlife populations or to help areas that have
small populations. The most effective way is to
trap wild animals from other established populations
and transplant them into new areas because these
animals already know how to survive in the wild.
Stocking was begun more than 50 years ago in Montana.
Among the wildlife species that were introduced
to Montana through stocking were the ring-necked
pheasant, Hungarian partridge and Merriam's turkey.
One of the problems of the early stocking programs,
however, was that wildlife managers did not always
consider the limitations of habitat and social acceptance.
Today, wildlife managers carefully study the areas
before stocking, thus increasing the chances of
the animal's survival, coexistence with existing
species and people's desire to have them there.
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Habitat Management
Habitat is the key to wildlife survival. Without
habitat, no wildlife can survive. The main purpose
of the habitat management tool is to prevent existing
habitat, that is in good condition, from being destroyed
or lost. Habitat in poor condition can be improved
or new habitat can be created through proper management
programs. Artificial or supplemental feeding of
wildlife is a poor and often dangerous practice
compared to proper habitat and population management.
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Who Pays For Wildlife Management?
Regulated hunting and trapping provides another
key tool for wildlife managers - - money. Like everything
else in this world, wildlife management programs
cost money. That money is provided in several ways
by hunters and trappers.
A key source of money is the sale of hunting and
trapping licenses. Money from the sale of the licenses
is used to manage both game and nongame species.
Another source is through a special tax the federal
government collects on all gun, ammunition and archery
purchases. That tax came from the Pittman-Robertson
Act, which Congress passed in 1937 to help wildlife.
Finally, there are special, management-oriented
organizations that have been formed by people who
like wildlife and want to help it. These groups,
in turn, raise money from their members and work
cooperatively with wildlife management agencies
to help develop management plans and implement them.
So you can see - - through special taxes on hunting
tools and equipment, license fees and donations
-, hunters and trappers are an important tool for
managing wildlife. They not only pay the bills,
they are the only major source of money for
management programs.
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Public
Education
You can't help wildlife if you don't understand
wildlife. That's why public education is so important
for wildlife management to succeed. When people
know about wildlife and its needs, most often they
will give more support and are likely to become
more involved in management programs.
How can people learn more about it? Education programs
provide new, inexperienced and even experienced
people with information, knowledge and skills. These
programs help people to be smarter about using wildlife
and better at taking care of the land.
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Wildlife's Future
The future of wildlife doesn't just depend on management
programs. It depends mostly on people. People, whether
they are hunters and trappers or not, need to learn
all they can about wildlife and they need to care
about whether it's managed properly. Here's what
you can do to help make a brighter future for wildlife.
- Support programs to maintain or improve wildlife
habitat. This includes knowing how important private
lands are in providing critical habitat and recreation
opportunities.
- Support your state wildlife agency in its efforts
to manage wildlife and people. Also, support conservation
activities locally and nationally.
- Realize that hunting and trapping are important
management tools used to benefit wildlife populations
and their habitat - - and don't be afraid to tell
your friends about these benefits. When people
learn more about the role of hunting and trapping,
most often they support these important roles.
Observe the highest ethical standards while hunting.
Being willing to encourage other hunters to do
the same will help, too.
- Be willing to contribute money and your skills
to help wildlife. If we all start today, there
will always be wildlife for everyone to enjoy.
