Wild venison consumption statistics describe several different parts of the food system: animals culled, meat produced, household purchasing, eating frequency, hunter distribution, and donated meat. The figures below cover Scotland, the wider UK, the United States, Missouri, and Fairfax County, with the measurement period stated for every set of results.
Contents
- Scottish wild venison supply
- UK purchasing and eating prevalence
- U.S. wild venison consumption
- Quantities consumed from hunted deer
- Missouri Share the Harvest donations
- Fairfax County donated venison
Scottish wild venison supply
Scotland’s annual wild-deer cull exceeds 100,000 animals, according to the Deer Working Group report on wild venison and food safety. That source described Scotland’s wild-venison output as generally quoted at about 3,500 tonnes per year. These are annual estimates reported in 2020, rather than a single-year weigh-in of every carcass.
The report’s 2017/18 estimate breaks the output down by deer type. Red deer contributed an estimated 2,850 tonnes, roe deer 500 tonnes, sika deer 150 tonnes, and fallow deer 50 tonnes. Red deer therefore accounted for more than 75% of estimated Scottish wild-venison production in that period.
| Deer type | Estimated output, 2017/18 |
|---|---|
| Red deer | 2,850 tonnes |
| Roe deer | 500 tonnes |
| Sika deer | 150 tonnes |
| Fallow deer | 50 tonnes |
The same breakdown totals 3,550 tonnes across the four listed deer types. The report separately described the overall figure as generally about 3,500 tonnes, so the two descriptions are close estimates rather than independent measures of different markets.
A separate Food Standards Scotland assessment of the venison industry estimated 3,000–3,500 tonnes of Scottish venison for consumption during its 2017–2019 assessment. About 90 tonnes came from farmed deer, while about 98% of annual production was attributed to culls of wild deer. The assessment said unreported culls could raise annual output to about 3,800 tonnes.
That supply is not identical to the amount eaten in Scotland. The assessment reported that about 33% of UK-produced venison, mainly from wild-deer culls, was exported to Europe. Supply available at the production stage can therefore move into exports, retail, food service, direct distribution, or donations before it becomes a meal.
UK purchasing and eating prevalence
UK market measures show a smaller purchasing base than the total production estimates might suggest. UK venison sales reached 1,221 tonnes in 2019–2020, according to the Food Standards Agency exposure assessment. The same source reported that sales increased 20.1% from 2018–2019 to 2019–2020.
In the 2019–2020 period, 4.7% of UK households had bought venison. A separate survey measure found that 12% of UK consumers reported eating venison at home during the previous year, while 10% reported eating it away from home. These percentages describe reported consumer experience, not the percentage of households buying a particular quantity.
The route to the plate was not always a retail purchase. In a 2020 market-insight survey, 8% of people who consumed venison at home said they had not bought it through retail establishments. That result is consistent with the importance of non-retail routes such as gifts, direct supply, hunting households, or other sources, although the supplied figures do not quantify each route separately.
Imported meat was also part of UK consumption. The Food Standards Scotland assessment estimated that about 800 tonnes of venison consumed in the UK was imported in 2017. It described that amount as about 25% of UK venison consumption in 2017. This import estimate and the later 2019–2020 sales figure use different periods and should not be treated as a like-for-like trend line.
U.S. wild venison consumption
The 2006–2007 FoodNet Population Survey provides one of the clearest supplied measures of U.S. exposure to deer or elk meat. Among 17,372 respondents, 67.4% reported ever eating deer or elk meat. The survey identified 11,635 respondents who had consumed venison.
Hunting was less common than consumption. In the same survey, 18.5% of respondents reported ever hunting deer or elk, and 1.2% reported hunting deer or elk in an area endemic for chronic wasting disease. The figures measure reported experience in the 2006–2007 survey period; they are not current national estimates.
Among U.S. venison consumers, 59.8% reported eating venison at most one or two times during their highest-consumption year. This gives useful context to the “ever eaten” measure: a person may have tried venison without being a frequent consumer.
The survey also points to the importance of wild sourcing. A reported 88.6% of U.S. venison consumers obtained all of their venison from wild animals. That statistic concerns the source of the meat consumed by respondents, not the share of all U.S. venison sold through stores.
The supplied Scottish high-level-consumer study adds information about people who ate substantial amounts of lead-shot wild game. In the study survey period reported in 2014, 51% of high-level Scottish wild-game consumers ate lead-shot game at least weekly during the main shooting season, and 21% did so at least weekly outside that season. Those results describe a selected high-consumption group and should not be generalized to all UK or U.S. venison eaters.
Quantities consumed from hunted deer
An older U.S. EPA report records quantities associated with hunted deer in a 1970 survey. The survey covered 6,100 venison consumers in the households of 1,455 deer hunters. Average venison consumption was 2.7 kilograms per person in the surveyed population, while the maximum individual intake reported was 44.8 kilograms.
The household and sharing figures show how consumption extended beyond the hunter’s own home. Surveyed households consumed 16,700 kilograms of venison from their own deer. Hunters gave away 6,500 kilograms outside the surveyed households, producing total consumption inside and outside those households of 23,200 kilograms. The surveyed households also consumed an additional 2,000 kilograms received from an outside source.
For the study area, the EPA report extrapolated 14,500 venison consumers in hunters’ households. It estimated 36,000 kilograms consumed in hunters’ households, 14,000 kilograms given away outside hunters’ households, and 50,000 kilograms of total venison consumption from legally taken deer.
These measurements are from 1970 and come from a defined survey and study area. They are valuable for showing the scale of household use and informal sharing, but they do not represent a current national consumption rate.
The Scottish high-level-consumer study also recorded preferences relevant to cooking. Venison was the preferred wild-game meat when eating out for 94% of respondents. Pan-frying was the preferred cooking method for wild-game meat among 67% of respondents. Both results belong to the study survey period reported in 2014 and to its high-level-consumer sample.
Missouri Share the Harvest donations
Missouri’s Share the Harvest program provides a long sequence of donated wild-venison quantities. The program recorded about 3,200 pounds in 1994, followed by 8,200 pounds in 1995. Donations then reached 20,497 pounds in 1996, 29,323 pounds in 1997, 42,509 pounds in 1998, and 46,090 pounds in 1999.
| Year | Donated venison |
|---|---|
| 1994 | About 3,200 pounds |
| 1995 | 8,200 pounds |
| 1996 | 20,497 pounds |
| 1997 | 29,323 pounds |
| 1998 | 42,509 pounds |
| 1999 | 46,090 pounds |
| 2000 | 49,260 pounds |
| 2001 | 76,171 pounds |
The reported amount was 49,260 pounds in 2000 and 76,171 pounds in 2001. Later program figures were 96,595 pounds in 2002, 177,435 pounds in 2003, and 275,374 pounds in 2004. Donations measured 267,541 pounds in 2005, rose to 322,469 pounds in 2006, and measured 260,908 pounds in 2007.
These are program donation volumes, not a complete measure of all wild venison consumed in Missouri. They show how a portion of legally harvested deer entered a community food channel over the reported years.
Fairfax County donated venison
Fairfax County’s deer-management program provides a more recent local series. The county deer hunt program information estimated 11,160 pounds of donated venison from 372 deer in FY2017.
The estimate was 10,830 pounds from 361 deer in FY2018, 9,090 pounds from 303 deer in FY2019, 9,870 pounds from 329 deer in FY2020, and 8,310 pounds from 277 deer in FY2021. The figures are fiscal-year estimates, so they should be read as local program output rather than a national consumption series.
Across these examples, wild venison consumption appears in several measurable forms: Scotland’s estimated production, UK household and consumer reports, U.S. lifetime and frequency measures, quantities consumed or shared from hunted deer, and pounds routed through community programs. Keeping those units and geographies separate is essential when interpreting the statistics or planning recipes around the meat actually available to a household.