Supplementary feeding of game; an attitude survey of hunters, forest owners and farmers

Sammanfattning: Different stakeholders are affected by large ungulate densities in different ways and often have various goals with the management of ungulates. Some appreciate high ungulate densities, while others want to keep the densities low, and conflicts are imminent when different interests must be put against each other. Supplemental feeding is widely spread as a game management method and has the intention of both increasing population densities and reducing it. However, supplemental feeding may have both desired and unwanted effects and inappropriate fodder may cause animal health concerns as well as damage to forestry and agriculture. An increase of the use of supplementary feeding has been seen and the purpose of this study was to investigate its current extent, regarding the proportion that feed, amount of feed used (kg) and its cost (SEK), as well as which fodder that was used. By analysing responses from attitude surveys of randomly selected hunting lease holders in 2009, 2013 and 2017, I found that the proportion of hunters that were supplementary feeding game was decreasing rather than increasing. Likewise, the average cost (SEK) and amount of fodder (kg) used per hunter and year was decreasing. The fodder provided is often inappropriate for wild ungulates, since it contains high concentrations of non-structural carbohydrates (e.g. root crops). An increased use of roughage (e.g. silage) and a decreased use of concentrates (e.g. root crops) can be noticed between 2009 and 2013, and my analysis of the study of 2017 shows that this trend continues. By comparing studies from 2014 and 2017, I found that more hunters, than forest owners and farmers, were feeding game. All stakeholder groups considered that they did it particularly to increase the survival rate of game.