Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Crippling Ratios in Hunting and Fishing


Ever heard of a crippling ratio? A “crippling ratio” is the number of individuals crippled for each animal that was successfully bagged.

The crippling ratio in terrier work is very near zero.

When a terrier enters the earth, the animal in the dirt pipe either bolts free out of an exit, or the dog is pulled and the animal is allowed to bolt free out of an entrance, or else the animal is terminated quickly with a bullet or blow to the head.

The crippling ratio for fish and game birds is much higher.

Fish that are lip-hooked and are not played too long generally recover, but a lot of fish swallow the lure deeply, and large fish that take over 20 minutes to reel in often expire from the stress. Maryland and Massachusetts studies of stripped bass found 5 to 8 percent of all released fish expire.

With birds, the problem is that shotgun pellets are relatively low-power and spread out. That means that if a bird does not fall out of the sky it may still have been hit. The good news is that many birds that are hit by shot survive, at least for a time, as the feathers pad the impact and the shot may not lodge too deeply.

The crippling rate for shot birds varies tremendously based on the type of bird, the type of gun, the type of shot, and the definition (which varies quite a lot) but can be as high as 10:1, though a 1:1 ratio seem to be more common. Pheasants Forever claims crippling mortality (unbagged birds that soon die) at just 10 to 35 percent.  The difference between the high and low numbers cited is at least partly due to the metric:  birds x-rayed and found to be carrying old shot (the larger number) and birds that actually die soon after being fired on (the lower number).

How about for deer?  Here the numbers are also pretty sobering, with data suggesting 30 to 50 percent of all deer shot by bow hunters are never recovered, and about 20 percent of all deer hit by slugs and bullets are never recovered.

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