Hunter Access Research Articles

Attribute-based analysis of hunters’ lease preferences

Understanding of hunter preferences for hunting lease attributes is important to landowners because such knowledge provides key information for managing and marketing fee-hunting in order to maximize revenues. Premised on this insight, we used attribute based modeling to investigate how hunter preferences for potential leases were influenced by lease and hunter-specific attributes. A mail survey of Mississippi licensed hunters provided the necessary data. Estimation results based on McFadden conditional logit regression suggested that lease attributes including game diversity, lease location relative to hunter residence, lease size, lease duration and lease rate influenced willingness to pay for additional units of lease attributes. Depending on the specific levels of these attributes, WTP could vary as much as $5.70 per acre. Of the hunter-specific attributes, age and income significantly influenced hunter decision to buy a lease or opt for status quo. Results of this study should assist landowners in increasing financial returns from fee-hunting endeavors through appropriate changes to their hunting access policies and wildlife management activities in response to hunter preferences regarding lease attributes.

Use of Bait to Increase Archery Deer Harvest in an Urban–Suburban Landscape

Abstract: Hunting is the primary tool for managing white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations. Effectiveness of hunting in suburban areas may be reduced due to limited hunter access to small properties, firearms‐discharge laws, and public safety concerns. In Connecticut, USA, hunting over bait on private land was recently legalized to increase harvest opportunities. Our objective was to assess bow‐hunter willingness to use bait and effects of bait type, hunter disturbance, time spent hunting, and property size on deer‐harvest potential in a suburban landscape. We mailed a prebaiting survey in February 2002 and a postbaiting survey in February 2004 to the same group of hunters. Hunters using bait were more successful and harvested more deer than hunters using no bait. Hunters using bait on small properties observed similar numbers of deer within shooting range as hunters using bait on larger properties. Hunters using bait met their venison needs, whereas hunters using no bait did not meet their needs. Resource managers should implement strategies that increase hunter success when developing urban deer‐management programs for communities.

Deer–human conflict and hunter access in an exurban landscape

Exurban development (non-metropolitan, residential development) poses unique challenges for wildlife managers through increases in human-wildlife interactions. However, little is known about hunting activity and human attitudes toward white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in exurban areas. In 2004, we surveyed exurbanites near Carbondale, Illinois, regarding their experiences with and attitudes toward deer, whose population in the study area was at or above cultural carrying capacity. Deer-vehicle collisions (DVC) were common and a concern for most respondents (84%). However, DVCs were less infl uential than plant damage in determining landowner tolerance of deer. Only 19% of respondents allowed hunting on their property, and this reluctance resulted in substantial amounts of habitat acting as a de facto refuge for deer. Due to the closure of land to hunting, traditional deer management alone is not likely to control deer populations in exurban areas without signifi cant outreach and education programs aimed at both increasing hunter recruitment and retention and encouraging more landowners to allow hunting.

Probable causes of increasing brucellosis in free‐ranging elk of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

While many wildlife species are threatened, some populations have recovered from previous overexploitation, and data linking these population increases with disease dynamics are limited. We present data suggesting that free-ranging elk (Cervus elaphus) are a maintenance host for Brucella abortus in new areas of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Brucellosis seroprevalence in free-ranging elk increased from 0-7% in 1991-1992 to 8-20% in 2006-2007 in four of six herd units around the GYE. These levels of brucellosis are comparable to some herd units where elk are artificially aggregated on supplemental feeding grounds. There are several possible mechanisms for this increase that we evaluated using statistical and population modeling approaches. Simulations of an age-structured population model suggest that the observed levels of seroprevalence are unlikely to be sustained by dispersal from supplemental feeding areas with relatively high seroprevalence or an older age structure. Increases in brucellosis seroprevalence and the total elk population size in areas with feeding grounds have not been statistically detectable. Meanwhile, the rate of seroprevalence increase outside the feeding grounds was related to the population size and density of each herd unit. Therefore, the data suggest that enhanced elk-to-elk transmission in free-ranging populations may be occurring due to larger winter elk aggregations. Elk populations inside and outside of the GYE that traditionally did not maintain brucellosis may now be at risk due to recent population increases. In particular, some neighboring populations of Montana elk were 5-9 times larger in 2007 than in the 1970s, with some aggregations comparable to the Wyoming feeding-ground populations. Addressing the unintended consequences of these increasing populations is complicated by limited hunter access to private lands, which places many ungulate populations out of administrative control. Agency-landowner hunting access partnerships and the protection of large predators are two management strategies that may be used to target high ungulate densities in private refuges and reduce the current and future burden of disease.

Does Forest Land Posted Against Trespass Really Mean No Hunter Access?

Hunters report diminishing access to private forest land in the United States due to increasing numbers of landowners posting their land against trespass. While many hunters assume posting is synonymous with prohibited access, the relationship between the two is not clear. To address this issue, we predicted the likelihood a family forest landowner who posts their property will, in fact, allow hunter access. Factors that influence this likelihood were identified. We found that the probability of a landowner who posts allowing access was approximately 47%, with all explanatory variables evaluated at their means. Factors decreasing the likelihood of access included a perception that allowing access would interfere with their own hunting or result in property damage. Factors increasing the likelihood of allowing access included increasing parcel size, a perception of excellent hunting opportunity on their parcel, and a high percentage of the surrounding area that is open to public hunting.

The Cost of Acquiring Public Hunting Access on Family Forests Lands

To address the issue of declining access to private forest land in the United States for hunting, over 1,000 Minnesota family forest owners were surveyed to estimate the cost of acquiring non-exclusive public hunting access rights. The results indicate landowner interest in selling access rights is extremely modest. Using binary logistic regression, the mean annual compensation required to purchase public access on these lands is estimated at $50 per acre. Significant predictors of landowner willingness to sell unrestricted public hunting access rights are the compensation offered, owner's use of the property for hunting, land's hunting quality and market value, location of owner's residence, current posting practices, future ownership intentions, and concern for property damage. The high payment required to purchase this right reflects the value owners attach to exclusive hunting rights, cost of enrolling in a government-sponsored program, and inability to control who and how many hunt on the property.

Effort versus Motivation: Factors Affecting Antlered and Antlerless Deer Harvest Success in Pennsylvania

Hunting can be an effective tool for managing deer populations, but hunter willingness to harvest deer and their success is critical to management capacity. Moreover, harvest of antlerless deer is crucial to managing deer populations. Previous research has examined the effects of weather, habitats, and hunter access on deer harvest success. However, hunter-related factors leading to harvest success are unknown. This study explored the effects of hunter sociodemographic and background characteristics, field behaviors, and motivations on antlerless and antlered deer harvest success. Findings indicated that hunter characteristics and motivations differentially influence the harvest of a doe or a buck. Successful doe hunters viewed hunting as a management tool, were concerned about maintaining access to hunting areas, and hunted for venison. In contrast, harvesting an antlered deer appeared to be mostly a matter of effort. Those who killed an antlered deer spent more days afield, especially during late season.

Rediscovery and Recovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

Rediscovery and Recovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

Out of administrative control: Absentee owners, resident elk and the shifting nature of wildlife management in southwestern Montana

This paper describes the historical roots of an ongoing wildlife management dilemma involving decreasing opportunities for elk management via public hunting on private land in the context of an expanding elk presence on private land in southwest Montana. Our main focus is on the role of private ranchland in elk ecology, and the ability of land owners to set elk migration in new directions through cumulative decisions about hunting and tolerating elk. This takes elk management, traditionally the purview of the state, out of administrative control. We document connections between the region’s historical and emerging land tenure patterns, and analyze associated changes in hunter access. Elk numbers expanded rapidly in the Upper Yellowstone Valley at a moment of significant transition in ranchland tenure. New owners more interested in natural amenities than in livestock production encouraged the elk and discouraged hunting. This reinforced the spread of elk, and further weakened the ability of the state and other ranchers to manage elk (which interfere with livestock production in numerous ways). Though elk and cattle use the landscape in similar ways, elk became more effective agents of landscape change in a reflexive relationship with ideas of land that stress natural amenities over production.

INTEGRATING WILDLIFE AND HUMAN-DIMENSIONS RESEARCH METHODS TO STUDY HUNTERS

Recreational hunting is the primary management tool used by natural resource agencies to control ungulate populations. Although free-ranging ungulates have been studied extensively in North America, relatively little is known about the field behavior of hunters or the factors that influence hunting behavior, except on small study areas where access is limited and controlled. We developed 3 integrated protocols to estimate hunter density, distribution, movements, habitat use, characteristics, and attitudes, which can be used on large areas with unrestricted access. We described how aerial surveys, in conjunction with distance sampling techniques and a Geographic Information System (GIS) database of landscape characteristics, provide estimates of hunter density and a map of hunter distribution and habitat use. We used Global Positioning System (GPS) units issued to hunters to systematically record hunter locations. Hunters also completed a simple questionnaire. We linked these data and used them to obtain detailed information on habitat use, movements, and activity patterns. Whereas aerial surveys are limited to discrete points in time and relate only to aggregations of hunters, data collected on hunters that carry GPS units can be used to study habitat use and distribution at different times of day for individual hunters. Finally, linked responses from a traditional mail or telephone survey to hunter location data collected via GPS units to assess how hunter characteristics (e.g., age, physical condition, attitudes) were related to field behavior. We applied these techniques during a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) hunting season on a large tract (45,749 ha) of public land in Pennsylvania, USA, with unrestricted hunter access. We estimated density of 7 hunters/1,000 ha (95% CI: 4.2 to 10.3) in the morning and 6.3 hunters/1,000 ha (95% CI: 3.5 to 10.0) in the afternoon. We found that hunter density was negatively related to distance from roads and slope. Most hunters preferred stand hunting, especially in the early morning hours (0600–0800 hr; 72% stationary); more walked or stalked in the afternoon (1400–1600 hr; 58% stationary). The average maximum distance hunters reached from a road open to public vehicles was 0.84 km (SE = 0.03), and they walked an average of 5.48 km (SE = 0.193) during their daily hunting activities. We believe that the approaches we used for studying hunter behavior will be useful for understanding the connections between hunter attitudes and behavior and hence will allow managers to predict hunter response to changes in harvest regulations. Furthermore, our methods are more accurate than requesting hunters to self-report where they hunted. For example, we found that hunters reported that they walked >2.5 times farther from the nearest road (x̄ = 2.23 km, SE = 0.13) than actual distance recorded via GPS units (x̄ = 0.84 km, SE = 0.03). Our research provides wildlife managers with new knowledge on several levels. At the most basic level, we learned a great deal about what hunters actually do while in the field, rather than simply what they report. Second, linking field behavior with hunter characteristics will provide insights into the likely effects of changing hunter demographics. Finally, linking these data with traditional human-dimensions research topics, such as attitudes toward hunting regulations, may allow managers to better forecast the potential effects of regulation changes on hunter distribution and effort.

Internet vs. Access Point Intercept Survey to Obtain Stakeholder Information

To evaluate alternate methods of collecting stakeholder information an identical survey concerning one of the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife's hunting programs was posted on the Division's web page and distributed as a postpaid mail questionnaire at hunter access points. Internet/web page survey respondents, when compared to the postpaid access point intercept respondents, provided significantly different responses to 66% (χ2α .10) of the questions. The percentages of significantly different responses for attribute, attitude, belief, and behavioral questions, when comparing the two different survey methodologies, were 75%, 54%, 80%, and 67%, respectively (χ2α10). However, measures of effect size for most of the significantly different questions were relatively small and may indicate little practical significance of these differences. The Internet/web page–based survey had various advantages over the postpaid access point intercept survey, which may mitigate certain drawbacks with this survey methodology.

Effects of Hurricane Lothar on the Population Dynamics of European Roe Deer

Although extreme weather events-such as hurricanes-cause obvious changes in landscape and tree cover, the impact of such events on population dynamics of ungulates has not yet been measured accurately. We report a first quantification of the demographic consequences on roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) of the strongest hurricane (Lothar) that France has suffered in centuries. Based on long-term monitoring (>20 yr) of known-age individuals in 2 populations, we found that Lothar had no detectable negative effect on age- and sex-specific survival rates, except perhaps for old females. Likewise, although Lothar occurred during the time in the roe deer reproductive cycle when embryos are implanted, we found no evidence of a decrease in either the pregnancy rate or litter size. Our results show that roe deer populations are resistant to this kind of extreme weather event. The consequences for wildlife management are direct and important: (1) the hunting bag was low in 2000 due to restricted hunter access, and (2) the main effect of hurricane Lothar was to create openings within large forests that are good habitat for roe deer. We suggest that Lothar will paradoxally have a positive effect on roe deer population dynamics.

A National Trends Assessment of Hunter Access Problems: Perceptions of State Wildlife Administrators, 1984-1997

A National Trends Assessment of Hunter Access Problems: Perceptions of State Wildlife Administrators, 1984-1997

Timber-Management and Natural-Disturbance Effects on Moose Habitat: Landscape Evaluation

We used 16 years of survey data for a moose population, and 3 Landsat satellite scenes, spanning 19 years, to evaluate the hypotheses that Ontario's Moose Habitat Guidelines for timber harvest: (1) mitigate the effects of unmodified clearcuts on moose populations, and (2) create enhanced habitat with greater interspersion of forage with cover and higher habitat suitability indices than areas dominated by unmodified clearcuts. The 5 study landscapes compared were 16,000-91,000 ha, and included landscape disturbance from timber-management and wildfire-burn, and landscapes with and without hunter access. Moose density differed among landscapes, but while neither main effects of hunter access (P = 0.083), nor landscape disturbance (P = 0.31) were significant, their interactions were (P = 0.003), with density increasing if disturbance occurs without hunter access. The habitat suitability index in the wildfire burn was similar (0.80) to both the modified and unmodified clearcut (0.85 and 0.83), and population rate of increase was positive in both the burn (B = 0.153, P < 0.0001) and the unmodified clearcut (B = 0.127, P < 0.0001). The population did not increase in the modified clearcut (B = -0.016, P = 0.9907) because hunter access increased as a consequence of high road density.

Brown Bear-Human Interactions Associated with Deer Hunting on Kodiak Island

Brown Bear-Human Interactions Associated with Deer Hunting on Kodiak Island

Discrete/Continuous Contingent Valuation of Private Hunting Access in Kansas

In a recent paper in this Journal, Halstead et al. (1991, Journal of Environmental Management 33, 79-89) discuss the use to Tobit analysis in the evaluation of open-ended contingent valuation surveys with zero bids. This paper generalizes their analysis of the willingness to pay of a sample of 568 Kansas hunters for private hunting access. Because of declining real budgets for public wildlife provisions and limited hunting opportunities for non-landowners, considerable attention has been focused on the potential for user access fees to supply private hunting opportunities. As we note in this paper, Tobit analysis techniques implicitly require the use/non-use censoring rule reflected in zero bids to be generated by the same process as that underlying the continuous level of non-zero bids. An alternative empirical approach that allows a distinction between the use/non-use rule and the process generating the continuous bids of the sub-sample of users is described and applied to a consideration of willingness to pay for private hunting access. The restrictions implicit in the Tobit model are tested empirically and strongly rejected in favor of the alternative model. The empirical analysis demonstrates that variables may influence the discrete use/non-use decision implicit in zero bids in a manner that is significantly different from their effect on continuous, positive bid levels. This distinction suggests that zero bids may reveal statistically significant differences in the tastes and preferences of users and non-users. The results suggest that imposing the restrictions implicit in the Tobit model may induce specification biases and misleading inferences.

A factor analytic study of attitudinal structure and its impact on rural landowners' access policies

Previous research has shown that rural landowners' hunter access policies are determined in large part by their attitudes towards hunters, legal liability, conservation, and economic incentives. The results of this study support this research and indicate that East Texas, USA, landowners' decisions to allow or restrict access are based, in part, on attitudes toward hunter behavior, hunting as a social activity, leasing as a management practice, and a perceived obligation toward wildlife stewardship. Attitude-based profiles of landowners who adopted one of four access policies are compared.

Modeling rural landowners' hunter access policies in East Texas, USA

Private landowners in East Texas, USA, were aggregated into one of four policy categories according to the degree of access allowed to their lands for hunting. Based on these categories, a logistic regression model of possible determinants of access policy was developed and probabilities of policy adoption were calculated. Overwhelmingly, attitudes toward hunting as a sport, incentives, and control over the actions of hunters were most predictive of landowners' policies. Additionally, the availability of deer was found to be negatively correlated with access, thereby suggesting management efforts to increase deer populations may be counter to increasing access. Further, probabilities derived from the model indicated that there was almost a 7 in 10 chance (0.66) that landowners would adopt policies commensurate with allowing family and personal acquaintances to hunt on their property. However, the probability of increasing access beyond this level, where access was provided for the general public, dropped off drastically to less than 5% (0.04).

Predicting Mule Deer Harvest in Middle Park, Colorado

Controlling numbers of deer harvested is an important requisite for managing deer (Odocoileus spp.) populations. Weather conditions, hunter access, numbers of hunters, hunting restrictions, numbers of deer, and distribution of deer contribute to yearly fluctuations in harvests (Longhurst 1957, Connolly 1981). Some of these factors can be controlled or anticipated by agencies responsible for establishing harvest goals. This study was conducted to ascertain if knowledge regarding certain factors could be used to predict annual harvests of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in Middle Park, Colorado. Information concerning numbers of hunting permits issued and permittees hunting, and size and sex and age composition of harvests was acquired concurrent with measurements of deer

Overharvest of Fox Squirrels from Two Woodlots in Western Ohio

Harvests of fox squirrels (Sciurus niger) from 54 acres (21.8 hectares) of oak-hickory woodlots located on a public shooting area in western Ohio were analyzed to determine the effects of hunting on the squirrel population over a 7-year period, 1965-71. Yields averaged 1.00 squirrel per acre (2.5 squirrels per hectare) the first 4 years, 1965-68, but declined significantly to an average of 0.60 squirrel per acre (1.5 squirrels per hectare) the last 3 years, 1969-71. Squirrel harvests were significantly correlated with the preseason squirrel density but were not significantly correlated with hunting pressure each year. High sustained hunting pressure and the ease of hunter access to all portions of two woodlots combined to allow hunters to shoot a high proportion of the resident squirrel population. Hunters recovered an average of 47.1 percent of the marked adult females, 59.1 percent of the adult males, 33.3 percent of the subadult females, and 58.1 percent of the subadult males in the first hunting season after tagging. The average annual mortality for marked adults and subadults combined was 91.8 percent; 75.2 percent of this mortality was a result of hunting. Preseason squirrel densities in the total harvest were significantly correlated with the kill of subadults, the recovery rate of adults, and the total kill of adults for the previous year. During the last 3 years, 1969-71, the adult squirrel population was reduced by hunting to a level that could not produce enough young to bring preseason densities up to 1965-68 levels. There was a substantial immigration of subadults into the study area during the hunting season in the last 4 years. Small wood lots on public hunting areas may be difficult to manage for fox squirrels without some restraint on hunting opportunity. Management of these woodlots should be based on a concept of sustained yield rather than on hunter success, because hunter demand far exceeds the supply of squirrels. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 38(1):67-80 Fox squirrels inhabiting public hunting areas are frequently subject to annual hunting pressures several times higher than squirrels on privately owned forests (Peterle and Fouch 1959). Each year as hunting opportunities decline on private lands, more squirrel hunters seek their recreation on public hunting areas. Game managers should be concerned with the effects of this continuing heavy hunting pressure, particularly as the resulting squirrel harvests affect population densities and the maintenance of population equilibrium from year to year. The present paper reports on 7 years of harvest data (1965-71) for 54 acres (21.8 hectares) of woodlots located on a public hunting area in western Ohio. Our aim was to study the effects of hunting on a fox squirrel population exposed to relatively long (88-98 days) hunting seasons that began in early September before many litters born in midto late summer were weaned. In extensive forests there seems little doubt that both gray (S. carolinensis) and fox squirrels are usually underharvested (Allen 1952, Uhlig 1955). However, Allen (1943:335), Allen (1952:28), and Baumgartner (1943:193) reported overshooting of fox squirrels inhabiting small woodlots in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, respectively. These authors believed that squirrel populations in woodlots were sustained by an immigration of squirrels from adjacent, more lightly hunted, populations. Where woodlots were small and widely separated, population recovery was slow after years of high kill (Baumgartner 1943:193). 1A contribution of Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Projects, Ohio W-105-R and Illinois W66-R. J. Wildl. Manage. 38(1):1974 67 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.126 on Sat, 24 Sep 2016 04:49:41 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 68 OVERHARVEST OF OHIO SQUIRRELS * Nixon et al. Peterle and Fouch (1959) published the only long-term study of the effects of hunting on fox squirrels in woodlots. They found that short (22 days) October hunting seasons did not materially change the fox squirrel population. We acknowledge personnel of the Ohio Division of Wildlife who assisted with livetrapping and operation of the checking station. H. C. Schultz and W. R. Edwards, Illinois Natural History Survey, reviewed the manuscript.