Hunting as anthropogenic sink of biomass or source of carrion? A brief case study based on German hunting bags

Dead biomass is a crucial nutrient source for ecosystems. Although hunting residues can subsidize numerous scavenging organisms and are known to drive important zoogeochemical processes at very different scales in the ecosystem, this has received little attention. As a wildlife management tool, hunting acts as both an anthropogenic sink of animal biomass – through the removal of whole carcasses from ecosystems – and a potential source of carrion when residues are left in the field. To quantify these contrasting effects in Germany, we analysed the hunting bags of seven ungulate game species: red deer Cervus elaphus , fallow deer Dama dama , sika deer Cervus nippon , roe deer Capreolus capreolus , wild boar Sus scrofa , chamois Rupicapra rupicapra and mouflon Ovis ammon musimon . The total hunting bag of all seven species in the 2023/2024 season was 1 979 358 individuals, with an estimated live weight of 60 519 tonnes (t). We found that only about 33% of this live weight becomes venison (19 562 t) for human consumption. The remaining biomass could serve as a valuable ecosystem resource and conservation but is often disposed. Consequently, the ecological value of hunting residues as carrion is largely overlooked in current wildlife management. Furthermore, the energy‐intensive thermal disposal of residues, which generates additional environmental and economic costs, should not be underestimated. The incineration of the gut piles of the seven ungulate species included in our study requires approximately 15 428 706 kWh (900 kWh t –1 ) of energy, which corresponds to the annual energy consumption of 2851 households. Additional and important points are the ecological value of different hard and soft tissues and the risk of disease transmission by carrion. Overall, retaining hunting residues in ecosystems as a conservation measure – or returning them where legally permissible – could promote biogeochemical cycling and sustain ecological functions while reducing impacts derived from disposal.