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Background: It’s deer hunting season in Maine. Big game hunted in Maine also include moose, bear, and wild turkey. Each year, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife keeps track of how many of these animals are harvested when hunters report their kills. Do you think most animals are hunted in the less-populated (in terms of human population) areas of Maine, or in more populated areas?
The graph shows the number of registered kills in each Maine county versus the population of each county. Note that data for kills are for a twelve-year period, whereas human population estimates are just for 2012. However, Maine’s human population has not changed much in the twelve years.
Data Sources: Portland Press Herald, and US Census Bureau:
You can find out more about hunting harvests in Maine here:
Questions:
1. Describe what the graph shows about the relationship of big game kills and human population in a county.
2. I interpret the graph to mean….
