Wild Game Meat Timeline

Wild game has fed Americans for as long as there have been Americans. The rules around it changed as market hunting nearly wiped out several species and conservation took its place.

Timeline graphic of wild game meat milestones: Lacey Act 1900, Migratory Bird Treaty Act 1918, chronic wasting disease first seen 1967 and Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry 1997
Key dates for wild game as food.

Timeline

  • 1800s: Market hunters supply city restaurants and markets with deer, ducks and other game, driving many species into decline
  • 1900: The Lacey Act makes it a federal crime to ship illegally taken wildlife across state lines
  • 1918: The Migratory Bird Treaty Act bans the sale of migratory birds, ending commercial waterfowl hunting
  • 1937: The Pittman-Robertson Act begins funding state wildlife restoration
  • 1967: Chronic wasting disease is first noticed in captive deer in Colorado
  • 1990s: Hunters for the Hungry programs spread across many states
  • 1997: Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry is founded
  • 2002: Hunt4 Meat.com goes online asking why people hunt
  • 2026: Hunt4 Meat.com returns as part of the Hunting Websites network
Hunter sitting behind a harvested desert deer with his rifle in the shade of mesquite trees
Every deer is a freezer full of lean, local meat.

From market to table

The end of commercial market hunting is why wild game cannot be bought and sold in most of the country today. Game belongs to the public and is managed for everyone, and the hunter who takes it can eat it, share it or donate it.

The modern game cook

Interest in wild game cooking has grown sharply in recent years, with cookbooks, cooking shows and online recipes aimed at hunters who want to make the most of every animal.

Open desert flats dotted with green shrubs under a pale morning sky
Warm country means cooling meat fast.

For how hunting pays for conservation, see Why Hunt for Meat.

Game meat and the law today

Game taken by hunters belongs to the hunter to eat, share or donate, but not to sell. That principle, born from the market hunting era, is one of the foundations of North American wildlife conservation. It keeps wild animals managed for the public rather than for commercial profit.

The future of game meat

Testing for chronic wasting disease, growing interest in wild game cooking and expanding donation programs are shaping the next chapter. More hunters than ever are processing their own game and sharing it with people who have never tasted venison.

Lessons from history

The market hunting era showed how quickly wildlife can disappear when it is sold for profit. The laws that followed turned wild game into a public resource, and hunters became its biggest funders.

Sources