Effective management of wildlife populations often requires motivating hunters to harvest sufficient numbers of animals of prescribed sex and age classes to meet management goals. For cervids, it is convenient to design harvest regulations relative to presence (male) or absence (young and female) of antlers because harvest of females has a larger effect on population growth. We used regression techniques to evaluate effects of 2 supplemental hunting programs based on additional days of hunting opportunity and an additional incentive used to complement additional days on harvest of antlered and antlerless deer in Wisconsin, USA. Earn‐a‐buck regulations, an incentive‐based program that requires hunters to register an antlerless deer before being authorized to harvest an antlered deer, were associated with an average increase of 2.04 deer/km2 in antlerless harvest and a 0.60 deer/km2 decrease in harvest of antlered deer. Providing more opportunity for hunting of antlerless deer in the form of 4‐ and 8‐day supplemental firearm seasons was associated with 1.10 deer/km2 and 1.32 deer/km2 increases, respectively, in antlerless harvest with trivial (0.02 deer/km2 and 0.09 deer/km2) decreases in harvests of antlered deer. Our analysis suggests that extra days of hunting opportunity coupled with the earn‐a‐buck incentive was 56–88% more effective at increasing antlerless harvest relative to additional days of hunting without the incentive. Use of the earn‐a‐buck incentive resulted in decreased harvest of antlered deer and was disliked by many hunters. Quantifying these relationships is important for helping managers predict the costs and benefits of various hunting programs.
Background Tree stand falls are the most common injury to hunters in the USA, but there is limited research on the topic. This study examined the 5-year trends in incident tree stand fall injuries in rural north-central Wisconsin and described patient demographics and injury features. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on five prior hunting seasons, 2009–2013. Cases were ascertained from electronic health records via natural language processing that identified patients from the Marshfield Epidemiologic Study Area who received medical attention for a tree stand fall. Annual incidence rates were calculated using the number of hunting license holders in the target population, per administrative data from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Results There were 16,556–16,902 deer hunters in any given year, with 39 (92% male) confirmed medically-attended tree stand fall injuries in 2009–2013. Injuries mainly occurred in the lower extremities (n=23), and included two fatalities and one paralysis case. The risk of tree stand fall injuries went from 6.0 (95% CI: 3.2, 11.1) per 10,000 hunters in 2009 to 3.6 (95% CI: 1.6, 7.9) per 10,000 hunters in 2013, which was not a significant change over five years (p=0.79). Most falls occurred among archery hunters, in the evening and when descending from a tree stand. Cases were demographically similar to the general population of Wisconsin deer hunters. Conclusions The current seasonal incidence rate of tree stand fall injuries is relatively low in rural Wisconsin, but with limited signs of improvement. Continued efforts are needed to promote the long-term safety of the hunting public.
Establishing hunting regulations that facilitate population reduction is an important white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) management strategy. Increased opportunity to hunt antlerless deer and use of bait to attract are 2 strategies widely used by managers to increase harvests. While facilitating harvest, baiting deer also may increase disease transmission, create hunter conflict, or adversely impact other resources. Management for reduced deer populations requires that costs associated with baiting (e.g., disease transmission risk) be weighed against benefits (e.g., increased hunter efficiency). We quantified the effects of baiting on Wisconsin's firearm and archery deer harvests relative to supplemental antlerless‐only firearm seasons (SAFS) by modeling changes in the 2002–2003 harvests as functions of deer density, population goals, supplemental antlerless seasons, and a partial ban on baiting in 2003. With other variables held constant, the 2003 bait ban equated to roughly 0.1 deer/km2 fewer deer harvested by archers (antlerless and antlered). The reduction was offset by an equivalent increase in harvest by deer hunters with firearms. Thus, the net impact of a baiting ban was negligible. In 2003, SAFS resulted in an increase of 1.2 antlerless deer/km2 killed even though a decrease of 1.6 antlerless deer/km2 killed was associated with SAFS in 2002. Our analysis suggests that creating additional opportunities for hunting antlerless deer with firearms was more effective at achieving herd reduction than baiting.
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