50 Fun Facts About Hunting

The Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937 funds state wildlife programmes through a tax on what?

The 11% excise tax, signed by FDR, has paid for much of America's wildlife recovery; half of later handgun tax receipts fund hunter safety courses and ranges.

Under Pittman-Robertson, states are reimbursed for what share of an approved wildlife project's cost?

The state pays up front and claims back three-quarters, so licence fees still matter.

Who designed the first Federal Duck Stamp in 1934?

The Pulitzer-winning cartoonist drew two mallards landing on a pond; the stamp now costs $25 and its proceeds have bought or leased more than 2.6 million acres of wetland.

Money from Federal Duck Stamp sales goes where?

Since 1934 the stamps have raised over $700 million and secured more than 5 million acres of habitat.

Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell founded which hunting-conservation group in 1887?

North America's oldest wildlife-conservation organisation, it wrote the 'fair chase' ethic and keeps the big-game record book.

Roosevelt's 1887 conservation club is named after which two frontiersmen?

Its scoring system for antlers and horns is the standard measure of a North American trophy.

Which bird, once North America's most abundant at up to five billion, was extinct by 1914?

Market hunters shipped them by the barrel; Martha, the last one, died at Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914.

The Lacey Act of 1900 made it a federal crime to do what?

Introduced by Iowa's John F. Lacey and signed by McKinley, it was aimed at market hunting; a 2008 amendment extended it to timber.

Which forester and hunter, author of A Sand County Almanac, is called the founder of wildlife management?

His 1933 textbook Game Management got him the first professorship in the field, at the University of Wisconsin.

In the essay 'Thinking Like a Mountain', what does the author watch die after shooting it?

The 'fierce green fire' fading in its eyes changed his view of predators and fed his 'land ethic'.

Who developed the compound bow in 1966?

He worked in North Kansas City, Missouri; the patent came in 1969, and the cams' 'let-off' let hunters hold full draw with far less effort.

What does a compound bow's 'let-off' describe?

A 70-pound bow with 80% let-off holds at about 14 pounds, which is why bowhunters can wait so long for a shot.

Fred Bear, the bowhunting pioneer, moved his archery company in 1947 to which Michigan town?

Ted Nugent, his friend, wrote the song 'Fred Bear' about him; his museum collection now sits in the Archery Hall of Fame at Bass Pro in Springfield, Missouri.

How is a shotgun's gauge defined?

So a 12-gauge bore, about 0.729 inches, is larger than a 16-gauge; the .410 is the odd one out, named by calibre.

Which shotgun gauge is by far the most popular?

Its bore is roughly 0.729 inches; the smaller the gauge number, the bigger the hole.

A muzzleloader is loaded how?

Black powder or a substitute like Pyrodex, then a ball or bullet seated with a ramrod; many states run special muzzleloader deer seasons.

What is the most hunted native big-game species in the Americas?

About 300,000 survived in the US around 1930; by 2005 there were an estimated 30 million.

When do bucks of the most-hunted deer species shed their antlers?

They regrow a new set every year; the rut, when hunters most want to be in the woods, runs late October into November.

Why does a whitetail buck or doe raise its tail?

The white 'flag' tells the hunter the game is up; the US herd rebounded from about 300,000 in 1930 to some 30 million.

How low did the US wild turkey population fall by the late 1930s?

Trap-and-transfer restocking took it to 1.3 million by 1973 and around 7 million today, including western states where it never lived before.

In turkey-hunting terms, what is a 'jake'?

He has a short beard and uneven tail fan; a full-grown male is a tom or gobbler and a female a hen.

A male wild turkey's 'beard' is what?

Some hens grow one too; the length is a common hunter's brag.

Ducks Unlimited, the wetlands conservation group, was founded in which Dust Bowl year?

Publishing tycoon Joseph P. Knapp started it; it has conserved at least 15 million acres and is based in Memphis.

What kind of shot must US waterfowl hunters use?

Lead pellets poisoned ducks that swallowed them off the bottom; the ban also applies in Canada and the EU.

What is a hunting 'blind'?

Blinds and decoy spreads are the core of waterfowling; a punt gun once let market hunters kill dozens of birds in one blast.

What is the daily purpose of hunter-orange clothing?

It is required in most US states; deer, with their limited colour vision, take little notice of it.

Roughly what share of Americans have ever hunted, according to the figure cited on Wikipedia?

A 2006 poll nonetheless found 78% of Americans support hunting; regulation is primarily a state matter.

How many US states require a safety course before a big-game hunt?

Hunter-education classes are largely paid for by the Pittman-Robertson excise tax on guns and ammunition.

Which state has by far the most feral pigs, around 2.5 million?

Hernando de Soto brought the first pigs to Florida in 1539; Texas allows 'heli-hogging' from helicopters, which can take 9 to 27 animals an hour.

Which Spanish explorer introduced pigs to Florida in 1539, ancestors of today's wild hogs?

An estimated 6 million feral pigs now do billions of dollars of damage a year across 38 states.

Which deer-hunting method has people walk through woods to push animals toward waiting hunters?

Tree stands, ground blinds and stalking are the alternatives; the rut in late October and November is the prime time for all of them.

The Hunting Act 2004 banned hunting most wild mammals with dogs where?

Scotland had acted in 2002; the Commons had to invoke the Parliament Acts to overrule the Lords, and drag hunting remains legal.

On what date did the English fox-hunting ban come into force?

The Act passed only after the Speaker invoked the rarely used Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949.

What is falconry?

Evidence dates it to Mesopotamia around 2000 BC; UNESCO listed it as intangible heritage in 2010, and the Harris's hawk and peregrine are today's favourites.

The 1486 Book of St Albans ranked birds of prey according to what?

An emperor got an eagle and a knave a kestrel; the peregrine, naturally, went to a prince.

Jim Corbett, who shot the man-eating Champawat tiger, gave his name to what in 1957?

He had persuaded Governor Hailey to create the park in 1934; his Man-Eaters of Kumaon sold four million copies and he ended his life as a wildlife photographer.

Richard Connell's 1924 story 'The Most Dangerous Game' has General Zaroff hunting what?

He gives them a knife and a three-hour head start; the story won an O. Henry Award and became a 1932 film with Fay Wray.

In Greek myth, Actaeon was turned into a stag and killed by his own hounds after offending which goddess?

The goddess of the hunt, twin of Apollo, carried a bow and quiver; her Roman name is Diana.

Which animal was sacred to the Greek goddess of the hunt?

She was also goddess of wilderness, childbirth and chastity - a full portfolio for one archer.

Punt guns, mounted on small boats, let 19th-century market hunters do what?

Federal bag limits, the duck stamp and the lead-shot ban all followed the destruction the market gunners left behind.

'In-line' muzzleloaders are designed to resemble what?

They still load from the front, which is what qualifies them for the special extended primitive-weapons seasons.

What is an experienced hunter who helps organise a hunt and manage a game reserve called?

The natural area used for hunting is the game reserve, and recreationally hunted species are collectively 'game'.

Which of these animals is one of Africa's traditional Big Five game species?

The others are the lion, elephant, African buffalo and African leopard.

Venery, the form of hunting that includes fox hunting, uses which kind of dog?

Coursing is the sight-hound equivalent, and breeds like the pointer and setter were named for their hunting jobs.

Roughly how long ago did the bow appear as a hunting weapon during the Upper Paleolithic?

The atlatl, or spear-thrower, came earlier, before 30,000 years ago, and by 15,000 BC launchers were carved with animal figures.

Stone spearheads dated to as early as 500,000 years ago were found in which country?

Wood rarely survives, so anthropologist Craig Stanford suggests early humans used wooden spears far earlier, as chimpanzees do.

One theory names which animal as the single most important species in the anthropology of hunting?

Their importance across North America and Eurasia gave the late Paleolithic its nickname of the Reindeer Age.

Which horned god is cited alongside Artemis and Diana as a deity reflecting hunting's ancient importance?

Taboos and temple reserves often surrounded prey animals linked to a divinity, as in the myth of Actaeon.

The 300,000-year-old Schöningen wooden spears found in Germany are linked to which human species?

Discovered in 1976, they are the earliest surviving wooden hunting spears, dating to the very end of the Lower Paleolithic.

Who proposed in 1986 that early humans got meat by 'confrontational scavenging' from other predators?

Louis Binford had argued the same year that early hominids were mostly scavengers rather than hunters.