This commentary follows up on Rodríguez-Estival et al. (2025), which examined how misinformation and social polarization undermine trust in science, using recreational hunting as a case study. We agree that hunting — and game species research — crystallizes these tensions because it intertwines scientific expertise with political and sociocultural dimensions. We posit that rebuilding public trust in game species management requires greater transparency in the decision-making process. Such transparency entails clarifying the role of expertise and strengthening the involvement of public institutions, both by fostering participatory approaches that emphasize dialogue, knowledge transfer, and collaboration, and by improving coordination of data collection and the standardizing indicators.
