Wildschaden ist aller Schaden, den Schadwild, das sind nur Schalenwild, Wildkaninchen und Fasanen, also bei weitem nicht alle jagdbaren Arten, an einem Grundstück anrichet. Zum Grundstück gehört nach dt. Recht der Aufwuchs, seien es Feldfrüchte oder Wald.
Wildschäden sind also inbesondere:
Verbissene Kulturen/Naturverjüngungen im Forst
Geschälte Bäume (Schälschäden)
Abgefressenes Getreide/Mais/andere Feldfrüchte
Verwüstete landw. Kulturen
Von Sauen umgebrochene Wiesen
Baue von Kaninchen in Dämmen

Insofern ist "damage caused by game" gar nicht so viel zu weit, nur eben die Wildunfälle sind ein Problem.

I agree and would go even further: the noun 'bite' means the wound when an animal or insect has bitten a person. A 'game bite,' if it existed at all, would be a bite from a game animal, perhaps in a medical context. (Do hunters often get bitten by their prey? Rhetorical question, don't everyone google for gruesome little news stories, please.) But even there, I think we would just say an animal bite, since the 'game animal' part is not really relevant.

So 'game bite' should definitely be deleted.

I would strongly suggest deleting 'damage caused by game' as well, since the word 'game' alone is only used in this sense in the context of hunting or eating. Animals are game when you are aiming at them or cooking them, but when they're living in the forest they're just wild. 'Damage caused by game animals' would be more correct but still much less idiomatic in English than simply 'wild animals.'

The above suggestion should cover everything described here:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildschaden

@hm --us
Housten, we have a problem!
Im Deutschen ist Wildschaden ein rechtlich klar und in der Umgangssprache einigermaßen klar besetzter Begriff. Er hat einen langen historischen Hintergrund (Bauernaufstand) und diese Frage hat beinahe das BGB scheitern lassen (das damals das Jagdrecht noch enthielt). Wenn z. Bsp. Gänse in großer Zahl einfallen und ein Feld zertrampeln und vollsch****, dann ist das kein Wildschaden, aber vielleicht ein Flurschaden. Diesen historischen Hintergrund gibt es vielleicht -in anderer Form in GB- aber sicher nicht in den USA. Wildschaden ist der Schaden von bestimmten jagdbaren Tieren (s. o.), den der Jagberechtigte *bezahlen* muß; auch das verbietet den Begriff ausweitend zu übersetzen; beim Geld hört der Spaß ja bekanntlich auf. Das ist sozusagen definitorisch.
Aber guter Rat ist teuer, ich weiß auch nicht weiter, was die BE/AE Seite anbetrifft.

Hmm. So the point is that in legal terms, animals that were historically protected from poaching were considered to belong to the king or duke or whoever, and he had to pay if they got into someone's field? And in modern terms, the financially responsible party is whoever holds the hunting lease, the game rights?

Well, in that case, maybe keep 'damage caused by game animals' as another option, or maybe

(certain) game animals
(protected) game animals
(legally defined) game animals,

and mark it [hist.] or [jur.] or both? That's the only way I know to convey that a term has a special technical meaning in one language that doesn't appear to exist in the other, unless someone wants to research the historical background in both languages and see if there happens to be a similar British term, possibly archaic.

Sorry, that's the best I know to suggest. So-so advice is at least cheap. (-;

I couldn't quite work out why "caused by game" alone sounded slightly odd, but you're right, hm, it's because at that moment they aren't game. However, the phrasing seems to be used in the UK, mostly in Scotland (I guess we don't have that much game in the rest of Britain!):

"... claim compensation from their landowners for damage caused by game. " http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library/documents1...

"Abstract of the estimated annual loss arising from damage by game and other wild animals" http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/haynin/haynin0109.htm

"2) In section 52 (compensation for damage by game) of that Act, " http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/a...

"The FCS also records damage to the bark of a tree, damage by game, pollution, fire, frost & wind and humans." http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/pdf.nsf/pd...""damage by game "

There are quite a few hits, and all from official sites: it must be one of those official phrases which simply sound strange.

I've found a few US sites, but no UK ones, which mention "damage caused by game animals":

"Control damage caused by game animals and furbearers through hunting or trapping" http://www.fs.fed.us/im/directives/fsm/2600/2...

"ARTICLE 9 - DAMAGE CAUSED BY GAME ANIMALS OR GAME BIRDS. " http://legisweb.state.wy.us/statutes/titles/T...

I also found this one from a reputable UK source which explains the situation in Europe and the UK in some detail, for anyone who is really interested:

"Conflicts of interest: Potential conflicts of interests between sport, pest control, and conservation aspects of wildlife management are recognised in certain aspects of its regulation. Thus, compensation claims for damage caused by game species are made to the state, which pays out of the revenue generated by hunter licences. " (This is on the continent; apparently you don't have to pay in the UK) http://www.huntinginquiry.gov.uk/mainsections...

@hm -- us
OT
Wie Du richtig sagst, war die Jagd ein Privileg der Grundherrn. Das Üble war nur, dass sie den Wildschaden gerade nicht bezahlten, sondern abenteuerlich überhöhte Wildbestände hegten, und die Bauern, die wilderten, mit dem Tode bedrohten. Das war eine der Ursachen der Bauernaufstände.
Beim BGB war es so, dass die Ständekammer drohte, die Zustimmung zu verweigern, wenn das Kaninchen Schadwildart würde (was es dann erst sehr viel später doch geworden ist).
Und der ganze Quatsch wird von einer stockkonservativen historisierenden Lobby weiter gepflegt. Wenn man in D jagen will, muß man das Jagdabitur (Jägerscheinprüfung) machen; nicht ganz leicht!
GB wird so ähnliche Histörchen beisteuern können, vermute ich.
End OT

"Housten, we have a problem!"

Message garbled. judex, repeat, pls.

Forget 'bout 't! It's solved! We are stars!

@Archfarchnad: Thanks, good examples. I suspect the reason for the comparatively low number of US hits is indeed that our laws have never considered game animals as belonging to anybody, so there was not as much need to distinguish them legally from other wild animals. But I could be wrong, that's just a guess.

'Damage caused by game species' is also not bad.

OT @judex: Thanks, very interesting. I was aware that just to go fishing you have to jump through a lot of hoops in Germany that are a much greater hassle and expense than just buying a fishing license in the US; I should have realized the same would apply to hunting. Nor had I connected any of that with social conservatives; when I think of hunting in that sense, I think of the fox-hunting brouhaha in the UK, where I actually have some sympathy for, and considerable impatience with, both sides.

As for the peasant revolt, I would be lucky if I could place it in the right century, much less say what led up to it. My knowledge of continental European history before 1914 is woefully gappy, a deficit I really ought to remedy.

Rabbits as a protected game species, gosh. Do people keep land just to hunt rabbits on? Can you get a rabbit lease, do you sit in a rabbit blind?

In the US there are a lot of problems with deer in some suburban areas. They can be hunted in season, but it's hard to hunt the population down to a more reasonable size when they've become so numerous that they're practically living in people's backyards.

Wait, cancel that, not protected, a pest species. I think. Sorry, maybe I need to go get a bite to eat to keep my brain firing more or less on all cylinders.

@hm --us
Dies ist ein weites Feld (Effie Briest).
Wollen wir das im Pfefferminzzimmer (mein Gott, wie sieht dieses Wort aus 3 f, 3m, 2 z, 2 e, 2 r, oh Mann )diskutieren?

ich hab auf us amerikanischen seiten den begriff "wildlife depredation" gefunden...."game bite" klingt aber auch gut, find ich ...(humbly trusting my bilingual gut-instinct feeling, but then again: being stuck between 2 languages may indeed blur your senses at times)
>> http://www.ncwildlife.org/pg02_Regs/pg2d4.htm

(humbly trusting my bilingual gut-instinct feeling, but then again: being stuck between 2 languages may indeed blur your senses at times)
In meinem Fall findet es/er (der Wildschaden) in Afrika statt- das wird wohl "huntable" sein, ergo auch game ;-) anyways- thought my wildlife depredation could help someone ...

Eurodict:
TERM Wildschaden

Reference Haensch/Haberkamp, Wb. Landwirtschaft

Note {NTE} Schaedlingsbekaempfung;Pflanzenschutz
(2)
TERM Wildverbiss

Reference Haensch/Haberkamp, Wb. Landwirtschaft

Note {NTE} Schaedlingsbekaempfung;Pflanzenschutz
 

(1)
TERM damage caused by game

Reference Haensch/Haberkamp, Dict. Agriculture

Note {NTE} plant protection
(2)
TERM game bite

Reference Haensch/Haberkamp, Dict. Agriculture

Note {NTE} plant protection

Wissen.de
Ver|biss [m. 1] Schaden durch Äsen (von Wild) an Kulturpflanzen [ ➔ verbeißen]

PONS COLLINS: Verbiss [game] biting off of young shoots

http://www01.wsl.ch/glossary/FMPro?-db=dendro...

Also Eurodict enthält die Begriffe Wildschaden und Wildverbiss, wobei letzteres mit game bite übersetzt wird.
Allerdings geht das wohl einzig auf die Quelle Haensch/Haberkamp, Dict. Agriculture zurück.
Nach Wissen.de ist Wildverbiss eigentlich ein Pleonasmus.

Pons Collins hat einen Eintrag zum Thema (siehe Quellen), aber der ist nur mäßig hilfreich.
Die Schweizer Quelle gibt an, daß es für Verbiss keine adequate Übersetztung ins Englische gibt.