Hard Truths of Conservation (2022) s03e04 Episode Script

- 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.
(gun 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)