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When you think about what supports strong game populations - deer, waterfowl, turkey, quail and other prized wildlife - you might picture food plots, water sources or predator management. For decades, we at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have worked with the hunting community to conserve game populations through native habitats. One the most overlooked contributors to the health of these species is much smaller: pollinators.
Bees, butterflies, birds, bats, moths, and more, are quietly playing a role in success of your hunts. Understanding this link underscores the importance of pollinator conservation as part of broader wildlife management and hunting traditions. These unsung heroes are essential for the health of the habitats and food sources that support healthy wildlife populations, including those hunted for sport and sustenance. Here鈥檚 why pollinators matter to hunters and how supporting them can directly improve your time in the field.
Pollinators feed the food chain
Pollinators are responsible for helping more than 80% of flowering plants reproduce. This includes native wildflowers, berry-producing shrubs and many of the grasses and trees that provide food and cover for game. When pollinators do their job, plants produce more seeds, berries, nuts and forage.
Think of wildflowers that attract bees. Those blooms go to seed and feed quail, doves and other upland game birds. Or, consider the shrubs that grow berries for bear and deer. Even acorn and nut production from trees like oak and hickory indirectly depends on plant diversity supported by pollinator activity.
Better habitat means better hunting
Hunters know the best hunting grounds are built on strong habitat. Pollinator-supported vegetation helps create that. From the dense understory that hides fawns and poults from predators, to the insects that feed growing chicks, pollinators help sustain the full ecosystem.
Having early successional habitat as part of your hunting grounds is key to better hunting. These open habitats are generally covered in wildflowers and grasses. They often follow disturbances like fire, timber harvesting or abandonment of agricultural land. One acre of early successional vegetation provides up to 4,000 pounds of high-quality forage for deer, and at the same time, it supports up to 200 monarch butterflies and thousands of other insect, amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species. Also, that excellent forage quality and nutritional value of native plants helps build strong antlers and body condition.
A healthy population of pollinators means more flowers, which means more insects - critical for young turkeys and pheasants to survive and grow. If the habitat is diverse and thriving, so are game animals.
Role of food plots and farmland
Much of the land used for hunting overlaps with agricultural areas or is managed for both farming and recreation. Here, the connection between pollinators and hunting gets even more obvious.
Clover, alfalfa, sunflowers and other common food plot crops all benefit from insect pollination. Better pollination means more robust growth, more seeds and high nutrition value - keeping deer, turkey and other species coming back.
Beyond the food plots, pollinator-friendly field borders, hedgerows and ditches serve as important cover for quail and rabbits. These plantings create travel corridors for many game animals, including elk, deer, pronghorn and moose, particularly during seasonal migrations. Habitat corridors are essential for these animals to access food, water and breeding grounds throughout the year. They also reduce soil erosion, support soil health and reduce flooding.
In short, pollinators make land management efforts more effective.
Conservation: hunters leading the way
Hunters have always been among the most dedicated conservationists. From funding habitat programs through license sales to restoring wetlands and woodlands, hunters understand the long game. Supporting pollinators is a natural extension of that stewardship. Simple actions like restoring native plants, especially wildflowers, cutting back on pesticide use or maintaining pollinator patches near food plots can make a real difference.
There are about 10 million deer hunters in the U.S., and they manage habitat on tens of millions of acres of private land. They are knowledgeable, well-equipped, committed habitat managers, who control large tracts of land across the country. Our agency took a great opportunity to partner with the National Deer Association. This partnership will enhance habitat for deer and pollinators and promote deer hunting opportunities on private and public lands.
鈥淭his is a great opportunity to highlight the work National Deer Association members and other deer hunters do that benefits a suite of wildlife species, including pollinators. White-tailed deer play a vital role to society, whether you hunt or not, and this partnership can showcase their value while continuing to help monarchs and other imperiled species,鈥� stated Larry Williams, a program supervisor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The partnership will have many parts, including incorporating pollinator conservation management practices into training courses for deer managers, promoting pollinator conservation to their members and increasing communications expressing gratitude for hunters and land managers.
As hunters, you鈥檙e not just chasing game - you're preserving traditions, landscapes and ecosystems for the next generation. That means giving pollinators a place in your conservation toolkits.
Final shot
The next time you鈥檙e sitting in a blind or walking a field, take a look around. The buzzing of bees or fluttering of butterflies may not seem like much, but they鈥檙e part of what makes your hunt possible. Healthy pollinator populations mean healthy habitat- and that means more successful seasons ahead.
So, whether you鈥檙e planting food plots or just looking to improve your property, remember helping pollinators helps hunting. And that鈥檚 a connection worth protecting.
Learn more about how you can help improve pollinator populations in your community.
