Need for Hunting Laws

• By the 1930s activities had destroyed much of the habitat of wildlife

• Some species had been nearly wiped to extinction from uncontrolled hunting and trapping

Hunting Laws

• Hunting and trapping laws left to each state– Except for migratory birds

• 1937 – Pittman-Robertson Act placed a federal tax on hunting licenses, firearms, and munitions– Money used for wildlife conservation

• 1950 – Dingell-Johnson Act collected taxes on fishing and boating equipment and boat fuel– Money used for fish habitats

PA Animals

• 255 species of breeding birds and mammals in PA

• 20% of these species can be legally hunted – game species

PA Animals

• When wildlife is managed by game agencies, management plans often favor game species– Habitats of non-game species may be destroyed in

order to manage land for game animals• Primary method of game management –

regulated hunting

Carrying Capacity

• Determines the population that can be supported in a given area

• In PA:– Largest deer are in counties with dairy farms and

timber operations– Smaller deer are in counties with large areas

closed to public hunting

Deer

• By late 1920s there were no deer in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and much of New York– Due to unregulated hunting

• Refuges bought with money from hunting permits were stocked with deer from other states

Deer

• Hunting was regulated– Strict enforcement of game laws

• White-tail deer population is now the most abundant big game species in North America– 20-25 million

Gettysburg National Military Park

• Survey conducted between 1987 and 1992 – increase from 721 to 1,018 deer in study area– Population density as high as 447 deer per square

mile of forest– Ate tree seedlings and nearby crops– Park couldn’t maintain historic landscapes

necessary for understanding historic events

Little Round Top

Bloody Wheatfield

Plum Run

High Water Mark

Gettysburg National Military Park

• National Park Service determined that the number of deer needed to be drastically reduced– Between October 1995 and March 1997 858 deer

were removed– Venison was donated to local food banks– Goal to reduce and maintain density to 25 deer

per square mile

Poaching

• Taking of wildlife by any method that is illegal– Studies in Missouri, Washington, and New Mexico

show that more animals are killed illegally than legally

– Most poaching is done for “sport” or for profit

Other Human Activities

• Most human activities result in some negative impacts on wildlife habitats– Developers, dam builders, road builders, and

swamp drainers destroy more wildlife than hunters

• Our technology often causes the accidental death of many kinds of wildlife– With the exception of hunting season, more deer

are killed on highways than by any other means