Fallow Deer (Dama dama) Population and Harvest Changes in Europe since the Early 1980s

Abstract

Fallow deer is one of the most common and widespread cervid species in Europe. To make informed management decisions on any scale, it is essential to have long-term data on the abundance of populations and their harvest. We provide missing information on the changes and status of fallow deer populations in Europe and analyse the relationships between population and harvest changes using a numerical approach. To conduct our analyses, we collected national statistical data on population sizes and hunting bags for all European countries for four periods: 1984, the mid-2000s, mid-2010s, and early 2020s. The fallow deer population increased five-fold from 1984 to the early 2020s and the harvest increased six-fold in the same period. Although the correlations between the population growth rate and harvest growth rate are not strong, removing outliers strengthened the correlation. This indicates that the hunting effort increases as the population increases. Overall, the lack of some data shows that consistent, reliable data collection (monitoring programs) is needed to efficiently manage the increasing fallow deer populations as a renewable natural resource and mitigate the potential negative impacts in a holistic and responsible manner.