Erika Andersson Cederholm

Wildlife in recreational hunting exists within a complex intersection of economic, ethical, and ecological concerns. Hunting offers personal fulfillment and supports conservation, while also driving a broader market of hunting-related goods and services. Yet, wildlife is often treated as unowned (res nullius) until harvested, leaving its value largely unregulated before capture or death. Yet we show that value imbues wildlife at all points of its life as a game species, from commodity value, to encounter value, non-encounter value, aesthetic value, biopolitical value, and relational value. Through unpacking these categories of wildlife value, this chapter explores wildlife’s role in hunting—from its intrinsic and instrumental value to hunters and the industry to its function in conservation. It examines how hunting technologies, tourism, and economic systems shape the regulation of game animals and how internalizing costs where possible—such as adaptive population monitoring and peer enforcement of hunting ethics—can create more sustainable frameworks.