Hunting and Game Consumption Patterns of Hunters in South Carolina

Scarcity of site-specific consumption rates for use in contaminant exposure modeling has resulted in a lack of formal guidance for assessing risk of exposure to contaminants via consumption of wild game in the United States. Consequently, numerical estimation of what species hunters harvest, consume, and share is important for human health risk assessment, especially in areas with elevated risk of contaminant exposure. To address these information gaps, we designed and administered questionnaires to 260 hunters at two hunting expos in South Carolina and inquired about their harvesting, sharing, and consumption habits with respect to wild game and wild fish. Of the 11 game and fish we included in our survey, respondents reported hunting and consuming an average of 5.3 and sharing 3.5. We found a significant difference in number of wild game and fish meals eaten per year across a rural-urban gradient, with respondents from low population density counties consuming more than those from medium or high population density counties. Additionally, hunters in our survey reported sharing a considerable portion of the game they procure, and often consume more fish and game than they hunt Thus, future surveys would benefit from asking more directed questions related to who is receiving harvested game and portion size shared. Additionally, 90% of surveyed hunters also reported consuming fish. Thus, our results also highlight the importance of considering cumulative wild game and fish consumption in future risk assessment analysis for the southeastern United States and other comparable populations, especially for high-risk groups such as children and pregnant women.