Categorizing Deer Hunters by Typologies Useful to Game Managers: A Latent-Class Model

Abstract

Game managers emphasize hunting as the only realistic large-scale management tool currently available to control deer densities. Identifying the characteristics of hunters who place importance on deer hunting as a management tool, view deer damage as significant, or believe that current deer densities are too high could be valuable to game managers. Additionally, identifying demographic and behavioral characteristics of these hunters may allow innovative licensing regulations to reduce deer overabundance. Our analysis concluded that a determination of hunter typology is well suited to the method of latent-class analysis (LCA). We identified four categories of hunters, distinguished by their attitudes toward recent hunting regulation changes in Pennsylvania, damage deer cause to their surroundings, current deer populations, and availability of hunting land. We discuss the implications of these categories for game managers.