Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to exploit the animal's body for food and useful animal products, for recreation/taxidermy, although it may also be done for non-exploitative reasons such as removing predators dangerous to humans or domestic animals, to eliminate pests and nuisance animals that damage crops/livestock/poultry or spread diseases, for trade/tourism, or for ecological conservation against overpopulation and invasive species.
Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunting privileges of nobility and territorial rulers.
Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products, for recreation ("sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, though most are terrestrial mammals and birds. Fish caught non-commercially are also referred to as game fish.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA), codified at 16 U.S.C. §§ 703–712, is a United States federal law, first enacted in 1918 to implement the convention for the protection of migratory birds between the United States and Canada. The statute makes it unlawful without a waiver to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, or sell nearly 1,100 species of birds listed therein as migratory birds. The statute does not discriminate between live or dead birds and also grants full protection to any bird parts including feathers, eggs, and nests. A March 2020 update of the list increased the number of species to 1,093.
Shot is a collective term for small spheres or pellets, often made of lead. These have been projected from slings since ancient times and were the original projectiles for shotguns and are still fired primarily from shotguns and less commonly from riot guns and grenade launchers, although shot shells are available in many handgun calibers in a configuration called "birdshot", "rat shot", or "snake shot". Lead shot is also used for a variety of other purposes such as filling cavities with dense material for weight/balance. Some versions may be plated with other metals. Lead shot was originally made by pouring molten lead through screens into water, forming what was known as "swan shot", and, later, more economically mass-produced at higher quality using a shot tower. The Bliemeister method has supplanted the shot tower method since the early 1960s.
Wildlife management is the management process influencing interactions among and between wildlife, its habitats and people to achieve predefined impacts. It attempts to balance the needs of wildlife with the needs of people using the best available science. Wildlife management can include wildlife conservation, gamekeeping and pest control. Wildlife management draws on disciplines such as mathematics, chemistry, biology, ecology, climatology and geography to gain the best results.
Legislation on hunting with dogs is in place in many countries around the world. Legislation may regulate, or in some cases prohibit the use of dogs to hunt or flush wild animal species.
The National Wildlife Refuge System in the United States has a long and distinguished history.
A bag limit is a law imposed on hunters and fishermen restricting the number of animals within a specific species or group of species they may kill and keep. Size limits and hunting seasons sometimes accompany bag limits which place restrictions on the size of those animals and the time of year during which hunters may legally kill them. Those who violate these laws or other hunting laws are known as poachers.
The Lacey Act of 1900 is a conservation law in the United States that prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold.
A hunting license or hunting permit is a regulatory or legal mechanism to control hunting, both commercial and recreational. A license specifically made for recreational hunting is sometimes called a game license.
A hunting season is the designated time in which certain game animals can be killed in certain designated areas. In the United States, each state determines and sets its own specific dates to hunt the certain game animal, such as California, in which they designate certain zones, in which each have their own separate dates in order to legally hunt.
Game preservation is maintaining a stock of game to be hunted legally. It includes:
The Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 was an expansion of the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 which authorized the United States Secretary of the Interior to develop a comprehensive list of species or subspecies of animals threatened with worldwide extinction. It also prohibited the importation from any foreign country any animal-whole or in part, any product, or any egg belonging to a species on that list. Limited exceptions for scientific, educational, zoological, or propagational purposes and for certain cases of commercial "economic hardship" were allowed under strict permitting procedures.
Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1970 to provide habitat for waterfowl and other migratory birds and to provide food and cover for resident wildlife. It contains 20,800 acres (8,400 ha) on the western edge of Robert S. Kerr Reservoir in three Oklahoma Counties: Muskogee, Haskell and Sequoyah. The refuge was named in honor of Sequoyah, a Cherokee who developed an alphabet for the Cherokee language.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement contributes to Service efforts to manage ecosystems, save endangered species, conserve migratory birds, preserve wildlife habitat, restore fisheries, combat invasive species, and promote international wildlife conservation.
The Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge is a large area of marshland in Cameron Parish and Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was donated to the state with certain provisions as to its management as a wildlife sanctuary. It is a biodiverse habitat and is visited annually by many migratory birds. Much research is undertaken into marshland management and alligator ranching, and the income from the sale of alligators contributes to conservation of the marshland.
Wildlife law in England and Wales is the law relating to the protection of wildlife in England and Wales. Much of existing UK law dates from pre-Victorian times. Wildlife was viewed as a resource to be used; phrases such as "game" or "sporting rights" appear. Public opinion is now much more in favour of protection of birds and mammals rather than the landowners’ interests.
In hunting, take or taking is a term used in the United States to refer to any action that adversely affects a species, particularly killing individuals of that species, as outlined by the United States Endangered Species Act of 1973. Although "taking" most commonly refers to the act of killing animals in a hunting context, its definition can also extend to include harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, trapping, capturing, and collecting any plant or animal. The definition of take can also further extend to comprise the indirect harming of a species via modification of its habitat (see below§ Legal Definition of Take).
Hunting is a significant subsistence and recreational activity in the United States.
