The aim of this paper is to empirically test the relevance of some factors proposed to explain ∅ plural inflection in nouns denoting game animals. Authoritative reference grammars of English, such as Quirk et al. (1985: 307–308), and Biber et al. (1999: 288) explain that zero plural is used when game animals are referred to as a group, whereas the regular plural is used when they are being commented upon in terms of different species. Toupin (2015) and Corbett (2004) argue that there are specific types of context that favor one plural inflection over the other. Their claims serve as the foundational core for this paper. Moreover, Toupin (2015) addresses the history of individual nouns as one of the factors behind nouns taking a ∅ plural inflection. In the introduction of this paper, a brief overview of the regular and irregular plural formation pattern is presented, as well as our hypothesis regarding their appearance. Namely, following some of the above-mentioned sources, we hypothesize that when nouns denoting game animals are used in the context of hunting, they favor the zero plural form. To test this hypothesis, we collected some authentic data from two online corpora: the iWeb and The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). We searched the corpora to elicit 20 examples each (40 examples in total) of the zero and the regular plural forms in ten selected nouns denoting game animals. The goal is to explore the contexts where either plural form is predominantly used. In our analysis we also briefly comment on the historical evolution of the nouns studied, to see if - as Toupin suggested -the source of the zero plural inflection may be a historical residue of sorts. Our analysis has confirmed the hypothesis that zero plural inflection is associated with certain kinds of contexts, specifically the context of hunting.