Impacts of Recreational Hunting on an Introduced Population of Fallow Deer (Dama dama) in Tasmania, Australia

Abstract

Non-native deer populations are increasing in many parts of the world. Recreational hunting has commonly been advocated as a method for reducing deer population densities on private land, but there have been few robust evaluations of its effectiveness. We quantified the impacts of recreational hunting on a population of non-native fallow deer (Dama dama) on a private conservation reserve in Tasmania, Australia. We used a grid of 64 motion-sensitive cameras to estimate seasonal deer population density for three consecutive years. Recreational hunters recorded their hunting effort (date and duration of hunts), deer seen, and deer killed, and used a GPS to record where they hunted. Throughout the three-year period, deer density remained between 3.95 and 4.96 deer per km², well above the mean 2.7 deer per km² estimated for Tasmania. The 28 hunters killed a total of 128 deer (33 males, 87 females and 8 unknown) during 306 hunts. The annual harvest comprised 21%–26% of the total deer population (28%–38% of the female population). During the four-week ‘buck’ season (March), hunters exhibited more selective hunting behaviour characterised by frequent hunts that targeted mostly antlered males with low catch per unit effort (0.03 deer killed per hour). In contrast, the 8-month antlerless season (March–November) was characterised by a more opportunistic hunting behaviour with fewer hunts and a higher catch per unit effort (0.11 deer killed per hour). Our results show that the current regime of recreational hunting is not reducing the population. If landowners decide to rely on recreational hunting to reduce deer densities on their properties, more deer, especially females, need to be harvested annually. Changes to regulations that increase the number of deer harvested should be considered in parallel with greater incentives for recreational hunters to harvest more females. Other deer control methods, such as helicopter-based shooting and professional ground-based shooting, are likely to provide faster and greater reductions in the densities of non-native deer populations than recreational hunting while non-lethal management should be considered for local asset protection.