This month the hunting season starts in full swing. Then over 100,000 active hunters go out into the woods and fields to hunt down animals. There is a limited window of time during which it is permissible to shoot the various species. September marks the start of when you can, among other things, hunt grouse, deer and moose. This is therefore a time that many keen hunters look forward to, while some animals enter the most risky period of the year. – Animals are greatly affected by hunting. It is life-threatening for them when we go hunting with the aim of killing these animals, says Erling Johan Solberg. He researches deer game at the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (NINA). But how are the animals actually affected by hunting? Experiencing more stress and fear We have developed the sense of fear in order to survive, and the same applies to animals. They get scared during the hunt, says Solberg, and they get stress hormones triggered in their bodies. Most animals have “always” been hunted, both by predators and humans. They are therefore adapted to a certain degree of stress, and are good at recovering afterwards, explains the researcher. There has generally been more research into how deer are affected by hunting than, for example, grouse. But there is reason to believe that grouse also become stressed and experience fear during the hunt, although this has not been researched. That’s what wildlife researcher Rolf Anker Ims says, who has done a lot of research on grouse. Are you hunting? Yes, hunting small game Yes, hunting big game No, could never imagine Could imagine, but don’t have the opportunity Show result Gets a higher heart rate and needs to rest more The heart rate of animals being hunted increases considerably. Researchers have seen this, for example, in bears that are hunted by dogs. The bears also rested more than normal the day after being hunted. The longer the hunt had lasted, the longer the bear rested the next day. Two days after the hunt, the bears’ heart rate had returned to normal again. In the period 2022–2023, almost 50,000 deer were shot in Norway. Photo: Linda Bjørgan / news Their mating is disrupted Animals do not mate all year round, as we humans do. They have a limited period during which they are sexually active. For many deer, this period is in September and October – in the middle of the hunting season. The instinct to mate is so strong that the animals often brave the risk of being killed in the hope of finding a partner. – The sex hormones contribute with a stronger stimulus than fear, says wildlife researcher Solberg. Grouse mate in the spring, and their mating is therefore not particularly affected by hunting, says Rolf Anker Ims, who researches grouse. The grouse’s mating is not affected by hunting. They mate in the spring. Photo: Linda Bjørgan / Linda Bjørgan Moving more Many animals move more during the hunt, and when meeting people, than otherwise. Wild reindeer herds move more than normal during the hunt, probably because they are frightened when an animal in the herd is shot at, says Solberg. How much they move varies depending on where they usually live. Researchers have seen during the hunt that deer that usually live in areas with little forest flee further away from this area, and at a higher pace, than deer that live in more densely forested areas. Why do you hunt? Nature experience Matauk Excitement Other Show result Change residence Wild animals usually have a home area in which they live. Deer usually rarely move outside an area of four square kilometres. During the hunt, almost one in three deer leave their home area, and it takes an average of 24 hours to return home. Animals that live in the forest prefer to stay “at home” during the hunt, but often choose to settle in areas that are easy to hide in or escape from. During the hunt, animals move away from areas where you might see them the rest of the year – such as fields and the edge of the forest. For large parts of the year, the deer have a home area where they live. It is not unusual for the deer to have a “home” for summer and another for winter. Photo: Linda Bjørgan / news Becoming skeptical of humans Animals are not very good at recognizing when humans are dangerous and when they are not. Therefore, many animals that are hunted will develop a general fear of humans, says wildlife researcher Solberg. At the same time, many deer animals depend on finding quality food, which is often close to people. – You can therefore often see moose near cities and towns, even if they prefer to avoid us, says Solberg. Can struggle more to produce offspring Animals that are hunted over time can take in fewer calories than they burn. Then the body fat percentage in the body is lower, which in turn can lead to some animals having fewer offspring. Researchers have seen, for example, that bears with less than 20 percent body fat do not give birth to cubs. There is not enough research into this, but researchers have suggested that hunting can affect the animals’ ability to give birth. The fawn receives maternal care. Photo: Linda Bjørgan / news Hunting forms have different effects on Jakttårn, chasing the animal with stray dogs or making decoy noises. These are just some of the different forms of hunting we have. Hunting methods that involve the animal being chased or forced out of its “home” disturb the animals the most. Hunting deer with the help of stray dogs is more taxing on the animal than forms of hunting where you sit and wait for mail, or sneak up on the animal. Affects in the long term Hunting can also have other consequences for the populations than the purely immediate. How the animals that are shot are distributed between different sexes and age groups can over time affect the entire population, says wildlife researcher Erling Johan Solberg. In this country, we have long shot more males than females of both moose and deer, in order to increase the populations. Then hunters can shoot a number of elk bulls, while keeping the population up, because few males impregnate many females. The disadvantage of few males passing on their genes is that there is less genetic variation in the population. Then the population is also less equipped to adapt to changes in the environment. – In a world with climate change and other man-made influences, this is not very fortunate, and many in game management are therefore now choosing to move away from such a hunting strategy, says Solberg. When it comes to grouse hunting, the hunter has less opportunity to select grouse based on gender and age, says grouse researcher Rolf Anker Ims. This is because they are shot when they fly, often in flocks, and it is not easy to tell the difference between the animals. At the same time: We humans have partially eradicated the predators that would otherwise have kept the populations we now hunt down. If people had not hunted, for example, the deer would have died of diseases or too little food, according to the researcher.
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Elk, deer, roe deer and grouse
