Sustainable monitoring of roe deer in public hunting areas in the Spanish Pyrenees

Herrero, Juan; Torres, Rita T.; Prada, Carlos; García‐Serrano, Alicia; Giménez-Anaya, Alberto; Fernández, Olatz

doi:10.5424/fs/2013223-02820

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Antler biometric included beam height (mm), brow tines (mm), back points (mm), coronet perimeter (mm), and apical beam separation (mm). Body biometrics included total length (cm), chest circumference (cm), metatarsal length (cm), and full body mass (kg, Pesola®) (Herrero et al 2013). Antlers were measured using the old procedure of the Conseill International de la Chasse, which does not include the volume of antlers (CIC, 1977).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Can roe deer hunting be selective? A case study from the Pyrenees

García-Ferrer¹,

Herrero²,

Jimeno-Brabo³

et al. 2019

Galemys

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Trophy Hunting (TH) is thought to be the reason for the reduction in length and thickness of trophies as well as body size in several Bovidae species. In deer populations, changes have occurred in allele frequencies and in number of antler tips, possibly the result of the removal of males that showed the best trophies. To evaluate whether TH selection occurred in a roe deer population, we compared the antlers and body biometrics of bucks harvested (n=278, 2006-2014) through stalking with a ranger within Game Reserves in the Aragonese Pyrenees (Spain) and those of non-hunted bucks found dead in the same and surrounding areas (n=28, 2004-2014); the latter were necropsied. For the analyses, hunters were assigned to one of three categories: local, regional, or national, depending on the origin and access to the hunting permissions. The study assessed the selection perception and hunt difficulty among rangers (n=18) and hunters (n=209). Statistical analyses used non-parametric Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The results indicated that (i), in all biometrics except brow tines, hunted bucks were larger than the non-hunted ones, (ii) hunter typologies did not differ, and (iii) rangers and hunters did not differ in their perceptions of selection and difficulty. Our results suggest that, the roe deer hunt through stalking in the Game Reserves selected the best trophies, and the rangers were essential in that process. Furthermore, if the main objective of roe deer TH is to harvest the animals with larger antlers, this selection could have a long-term negative impact.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the study period, roe deer density was 2.3 roe deer km -2 and the population was stable (l= 1.0) (Herrero et al 2013), unfenced, and not artificially fed.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Can roe deer hunting be selective? A case study from the Pyrenees

García-Ferrer¹,

Herrero²,

Jimeno-Brabo³

et al. 2019

Galemys

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“…A wide variety of techniques have been used to estimate ungulate density . Among indirect methods, pellet group counting has been widely used to estimate deer densities throughout the world (Marques et al 2001;Jathanna et al 2003;Smart et al 2004;Herrero et al 2013;Valente et al 2014) and while some authors have argued against it (e.g. Morellet et al 2007), others have recommended it, claiming that it can be used to efficiently assess the population size and trends (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating red deer abundance using the pellet-based distance sampling method

Torres¹,

Valente²,

Marques³

et al. 2015

J. For. Sci.

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Many European agricultural landscapes have been abandoned facilitating the comeback of large ungulates. In Portugal, the increase in red deer numbers caused local conflicts with landowners reporting economic losses in forest and agricultural plantations. A great effort is needed to mitigate human-red deer conflicts through management strategies. Successful management strategies require reliable information on population trends. Here we propose an easy and readily applied method to estimate an increasing ungulate population. We estimated the red deer population density in a Mediterranean environment located in northeastern Portugal: Lombada National Hunting Area (LNHA) and Serra de Montesinho (SM), using pellet group counts coupled with distance sampling to account for pellet detectability. The estimated red deer density using a stratified detection function was 5.81 indd per 100 ha for LNHA and 1.34 indd per 100 ha for SM (95% CI: 3.65-9.25 and 0.74-2.42, respectively). For the entire area, the estimated density was 3.38 deer per 100 ha (95% CI: 2.18-5.24). Monitoring population trends is crucial to assess the impact of methods aimed at reducing the population size or impact and here we provided an example of a robust method that can be implemented to continuously monitor expanding populations.

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Cost-effectiveness of volunteer and contract ground-based shooting of sambar deer in Australia

et al. 2022

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Context. Introduced sambar deer (Cervus unicolor) are increasing in south-eastern Australia, and both volunteer and contract ground-based shooters are being used by management agencies to control their undesirable impacts. However, little is known about the effectiveness and costs of volunteer and contract shooters for controlling deer populations in Australia. Aims. We evaluated the effectiveness and costs of volunteer and contract ground-based shooters for controlling sambar deer and their impacts in a 5-year management program conducted in and around alpine peatlands in Alpine National Park, Victoria. Methods. Ground-based shooting operations were organised in two blocks. Within each block, four ~4200-ha management units were delimited, of which two were randomly assigned as treatment (ground-based shooting) and two as non-treatment (no organised ground-based shooting). In the treatment units, ground-based shooting was conducted using either volunteers or contractors. Each shooting team recorded their effort and the numbers of deer seen and shot, and used a GPS to record their track log and the time and locations of deer shot. Key costs were recorded for both shooter types. Key results. The catch per unit effort of contract shooters was four times greater than that of volunteer shooters. Both shooter types were most effective during the first half of the night and prior to sunrise, and when using a vehicle with a spotlight or walking with thermal-vision equipment. During the day, the use of gundogs to indicate deer significantly increased the success rate of volunteer shooters. Both volunteer and contract shooters used roads and tracks to move in the landscape, but contractors covered more ground than did volunteers. After accounting for key operational costs, the cost per deer killed was 10.1% higher for contract than volunteer shooters. Conclusions. The effectiveness of ground-based shooters is increased by operating at night using vehicles, spotlights and thermal-vision equipment. Contract shooters kill sambar deer at a faster rate, but are slightly more expensive per deer killed, than are volunteer shooters. Implications. Ground-based shooting is likely to be most effective when conducted at night with thermal-vision equipment, and in areas with a high density of roads and tracks.

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Sustainable monitoring of roe deer in public hunting areas in the Spanish Pyrenees

Cited by 4 publications

References 20 publications

Can roe deer hunting be selective? A case study from the Pyrenees

Can roe deer hunting be selective? A case study from the Pyrenees

Estimating red deer abundance using the pellet-based distance sampling method

Cost-effectiveness of volunteer and contract ground-based shooting of sambar deer in Australia

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