03x04 - Episode 4

[bunniefuu]

- For almost 34 million

people in the US and Canada,

hunting and fishing plays

a role in their lives,

and this contributes directly

to putting food on the table.

Conservation efforts are not

just important for the species,

which live across

our landscapes,

but also for the people

who sustainably harvest

and rely on them

as a food source.

Hunting has become a

controversial practice

in modern times.

My name is Dan Cabela

and I'm traveling the globe

to explore the true impact

that hunting is having on our

remaining wild landscapes.

This practice goes as far back

as human history can remember,

but does it have a place

in modern conservation?

(upbeat music)

One of the greatest

conservation success stories

in North America is the rise

in white tailed

deer populations,

becoming one of the most

prolific deer species

we have today,

but it wasn't always like this.

In the 1800s, much like

our American bison,

their populations

were decimated due

to commercial over harvesting.

But in the years that

followed conservation efforts,

largely led by hunters

helped the populations

to bounce back, and today

they're estimated be over

30 million across the US.

I want to learn more about

this population recovery

and better understand

the importance

of wild harvested

food for people.

There is no better person

to learn from in this regard

than my old friend

Shane Mahoney,

who lives in

Newfoundland, Canada.

For over 30 years, Shane

has been at the forefront

of conservation with a focus

on how we as humans interact

with the other wild

beings on this planet.

- The island of Newfoundland,

which is where I was born,

and where I was raised,

and where I live

and where I'll die,

is a very imposing

and spectacular place.

It's a harsh place,

but it's also a place of

extraordinary wild beauty.

And from a very early age,

I took a very deep interest

in all wild things,

and I grew up in communities

where the harvest

of wild living creatures was

essentially the way of life.

There was no alternative.

So virtually all of

our food was supplied

to us from the

natural environment

that led me into

degrees at university,

honors degree, a master's

degree in ecology

and animal behavior,

and really ended up

spending 20 to 25 years

of my life actually

spending a huge proportion

of each year in wilderness

with wild creatures.

I simply cannot imagine a

world without wild animals.

(upbeat music)

- Can you tell us a little bit

about the North American model?

- Canada and the United

States approximately

a 100 years ago really came

together in an extraordinary way

to develop a shared system

of policies, institutions,

and laws that focused

on how to enable people

to harvest wildlife and to

do that in a sustainable way

so that the wildlife populations

would always be there.

So we not only

generated a system

that would rescue imperiled

wildlife, we generated a system

that would allow us for

now over a hundred years

to harvest wildlife at

massive levels, really,

but in a totally

sustainable way,

maintain very high

populations of those species,

very different species,

all across these two

massive countries,

and at the same time, to

generate funding mechanisms

to work for the conservation

of those species

and the habitats they require.

Of course, people might be

critical of a particular aspect

of it here or there,

but from where I sit with

my desire to keep wildlife

with us, I say it's an

irreplaceable model.

- The North American

Model of Conservation

is an extraordinary

success story.

Approximately $2 billion

per year are generated

in the United States and

Canada through this model

and directly through the

activities of hunting.

As a result, animals

that would've been considered

endangered 100 years ago

are now flourishing

across both nations.

You know, wild

Harvest Initiative.

This is something that you've

invested a lot into this,

I think it's very powerful,

and I'd like to just hear

from you kind of the origins,

how it was put together

and kind of how you

see it going forward.

- So I started to look at

the patterns in society.

This was a very

methodical thing.

It took over 18 months to

bring this to fruition.

One of the trends that

became clear that was global

was the increased emphasis

that human beings were

placing on health.

I said, well,

hunting and fishing

and harvesting of

mushrooms and berries

and all things from the

wild are providing us

with the highest quality

food that we know of.

So that led me to

the question, well,

how much of this healthy wild

food are we actually obtaining

through the hunting programs

in Canada and the United States?

Now, I thought that

that answer was lying

on something's table,

but to my surprise,

no one had ever tried

to determine the total

amount of wild food

that this incredible system of

hunting generates each year.

But that's what

we set out to do,

and that's what we

have accomplished.

And the results, of course,

have been mind blowing.

- [Dan] Hunting has long

been an integral part

of American culture,

and through the Wild Harvest

Initiative, Shane has set out

to uncover how much of the

North American diet consists

of wild harvested meat and fish.

The results are surprising.

- What we did have as a result

of the North American model,

we had every provincial

wildlife agency

and every state wildlife agency

recording every year

deliberately, religiously,

accurately the number of animals

of each species harvested.

And they held those records

and those records

were available,

and what needed to be done

was to take those records,

figure out for every species

how heavy they were on average,

how big the animal was,

and work out from that,

how much actual consumable

wild meat was provided.

- [Dan] In 2022,

the US Fish and Wildlife

Service estimated

that there were over 14

million hunters over the age

of 16 in America.

Through his research,

Shane has discovered

that each hunter will

share their harvest

with an average of eight people.

This means that wild meat is

feeding over a hundred million

people and accounts for over

1.6 billion meals each year.

A huge percentage of this

is white-tailed deer meat,

which is one of the

most popular animals

to hunt in North America

- In the United States,

just in the United States,

you are harvesting close

to 6 million of these

animals each year,

and that harvest is

generating somewhere

around 850 million meals.

So one single species,

this white-tailed deer,

generates about 62%

of all the wild meat

that's harvested for

all the 108 species

that are harvested in the

United States of America.

It's really quite extraordinary.

- [Shane] Yeah, I

mean, very significant.

- These numbers are staggering,

and I wonder what the

repercussions would be

if hunting were to be

banned in the United States.

- Now, if we had

to go out tomorrow

and replace those

1.6 billion meals,

that would cost about $2 billion

to purchase the domestic

meat equivalents

of all of that

wild harvested meat

that individual

hunters are requiring,

and of course, which they

share with their families,

that of course is just the

economic replacement costs.

- An added consideration

is the impact

of domestic livestock needed

to replace wild

harvested protein.

This requires large

tracks of land

to be moved into

agricultural production,

which can be devastating

for biodiversity.

Globally, agriculture

has been one

of the primary drivers

in wildlife declines.

- And one of the costs

that's associated

with an expanding agricultural

base is of course,

that wildlife habitat is

taken out of production

for either landscapes

that the domesticated

animals themselves can use

or to grow feed to feed

the domestic animals

that we are raising for

the human consumption.

That loss of wildlife

habitat is of course,

a major driver of wildlife loss

of what we call biodiversity

loss around the globe.

Every international institution

that has assessed the

impacts pertaining

to biodiversity loss on the

planet identify agriculture

as one, if not the primary

reason for habitat change

and the loss of biodiversity.

So if you take all of these

things into consideration,

I felt maybe we can begin to do

what the hunting community

has long sought to do.

It's to convince people

that hunting is anything

but a cruel activity.

Hunting is anything

but an activity that

hurts conservation.

It is just the opposite.

It helps in the

conservation of wildlife

if it is properly regulated,

if it is properly organized,

and if it is properly monitored,

all of which, of course,

are aspects that are built

into the North American model,

the system that we have.

And so, the Wild

Harvest Initiative idea,

that's what it was, and

now we stand in possession

of the largest database

of its kind in the world,

and this is the story

that Conservation Visions

and the Wild Harvest Initiative

and its partners who are

supporting this work.

- While these numbers

are highly impressive,

what is even more incredible

is the contribution

of just a single species

white-tailed deer.

I want to head

back into the field

and see this iconic American

species with new eyes.

I began to really

get a grasp of just

how important wild

food is for people,

and it far exceeded what

I could have imagined.

What was maybe even more

staggering was the impact

of a single species in

this story, the humble,

widespread white-tailed deer.

Hunting white-tailed deer

has always been significant

to the hunting

traditions of our family.

This was certainly

true in my upbringing

just as it is in

raising our children

and these traditions

continue every fall

up to the present day.

I'm traveling to Colorado to

meet up with hunting guides,

Chris Wheeler and David

Blake in the hopes

of finding a good

harvestable white tail.

This is an opportunity for me

to think more about all the

years I've spent hunting

these deer and what

it really means

to the people in North America.

This ranch has a huge

landscape of 100,000 acres

with a thriving

population of wildlife.

Their careful management

provides three

to four whitetail

hunting tags a year,

only harvesting mature animals

that are no longer contributing

to the genetic pool.

They also issue permits

for biologists to come

and research the animals.

The meat from hunting is either

taken home by the hunters

or donated to local

communities in need.

It is an extremely

well managed operation

and nothing is wasted.

I'm also very impressed

by the quality

of the animals on this ranch.

Everything I have seen has

been in great condition.

The white tail are

most active at dawn

and in the evenings, so I

set out early with Chris

and David to see

what we can find.

- The white tails like this

spot of cottonwoods here,

and they usually feed out

right on this edge a lot.

Yeah, so it's our

first morning out here,

just barely getting started,

but there's quite

a bit of activity.

We've seen lots of elk,

quite a few mule deer

and a good bit of

white tail already,

and there's a buck that

we're looking at out here.

Looks to be a mature

buck pretty far out,

but very beautiful morning.

Great to be out here.

(upbeat music)

- Yeah, you can't see

his body, can you?

- Yeah, I can just see

the top of his head

from where we're right here.

(upbeat music)

- Yeah, I am gonna have

to go through the grass.

(g*n shot thudding)

- Good shot.

- Sorry for the rodeo.

- It's okay.

We got him.

It's a really nice deer.

- Yeah.

- Congratulations.

- Thank you, beautiful buck.

- It is a beautiful buck.

- As I punch my

tag for the buck,

I reflect on my

discussion with Shane.

The privilege I have

to hunt this animal

and harvest this meat

is a direct consequence

of the carefully regulated

North American Model

of Conservation,

a model where active management

and the use of wildlife

resources sit at the core.

In my early days

of deer hunting,

we butchered and

processed our own deer.

Although we still do

this to some extent,

we now take the largest

portion to a local butcher.

The buck has been processed

and Chris has separated

a beautiful filet for us

to barbecue for dinner.

The rest of the animal is

set aside to be butchered

and shared with the

nearby community.

Sharing a well-deserved

Pendleton whiskey

by the fire, we

reflect on our day.

There is no better way

to celebrate a harvest

than enjoying meat over an open

fire with like-minded people

All over North America,

hunters are enjoying

the same experience

I'm having in Colorado,

spending time in nature

with the opportunity to take

food home to the family.

This primal connection

is in all of us.

(upbeat music)

Wild meat is often

consumed in our household

and is a staple of

our regular diet.

It is a cherished food

source for our entire family

as we have played a hand

in securing the food.

I think it is safe to

say that the sharing

of wild meat is an

essential aspect

of what it means to be a hunter.

My conversation with Shane

has reinforced my belief

that hunters are

integral to conservation.

They have a deep

respect for nature

and the wildlife that

are their source of food.

This respect is

passed on to anyone

who shares in this

harvest, helping

to ensure there is an

inherent incentive to respect

and conserve our wild spaces

and the creatures

which inhabit them.

I think an important

thing to consider

is what would the replacement

cost for wild food be

if we were to stop

hunting and fishing?

How could we replace

the resource?

Would it require less wild

spaces that would be replaced

with agricultural, feedlots,

pig, and chicken farms?

This is definitely

something to think about.

As a hunter, it's important

to realize how special it is

to harvest our own food,

but there is a message there

for everyone about

our consumption and

impact on the planet.

It has become even clearer to

me now that the wild harvest

of food plays a critical

role in both the conservation

of landscapes and

species alongside the

wellbeing of people.

Through the work of Shane and

the Wild Harvest Initiative,

we are just starting

to understand how critical

the food source is.

(upbeat music)