areas and from year-to-year, despite the resulting increased 

 fluctuation of populations. Others may accept variable 

 regulations if they result in moderated population fluctuation 

 which make expectations for hunting success more consistent. 



Although psychological, sociological, and economic 

 aspects of management cannot be ignored, our main purpose is 

 to assure that the biological and ecological background to 

 management is sound. Thus, management decisions will have at 

 least considered realistic biological potentials, and probable 

 population responses of management actions will not be 

 unanticipated. 



In variable environments like our study area, a 

 harvesting strategy based on average recruitment and mortality 

 rates or the role of compensatory reproduction and mortality 

 will seldom track population trend. During extended periods 

 of below-average recruitment and above-average natural 

 mortality, the population will decline under an "average" 

 harvesting strategy. On the other hand, during extended 

 periods of above-average recruitment and below-average natural 

 mortality, the population will increase. If sufficient 

 dispersal to vacant habitat has occurred and the goal is to 

 stabilize populations, above-average harvest rates must be 

 implemented during increasing phases. 



In variable environments, the use of an "average" 

 harvesting strategy increases the fluctuations of a 

 population, rather than dampening those fluctuations. A 

 "tracking" harvest strategy (Caughley 1977), with specific 

 numbers of tags valid for antlerless deer would more closely 

 respond to population trend. This concept and other 

 discussion of harvest strategy were discussed in more detail 

 in Chapter 6 - Adult Mortality. If managers prefer 

 consistence of regulations from year to year or across 

 environmental types, they must be prepared to accept the 

 implications of populations occasionally declining below the 

 normal low. Social, economic, and political factors will 

 often dictate "crisis" management measures when deer 

 populations fluctuate to "unacceptable" levels. 



Harvesting deer in variable environments is not a simple 

 scientific or mathematical exercise of calculating stable 

 averages, yield curves, and tag numbers using computer models. 

 Extrinsic factors, including hunting mortality, do not act in 

 an average manner and there are no average deer. Natural 

 mortality rates are different for different sex and age 

 classes and among areas and years. Fawns have higher 

 mortality rates than adult females. A female that has 

 recruited fawns for 2 or more years in a row is more likely to 

 die over-winter than one that lost her fawn in June and 

 recovered body condition during summer and autumn. An older, 



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