Restrictive Hunting Research Articles

Population dynamics and harvest management of eastern mallards

AbstractManaging sustainable harvest of wildlife populations requires regular collection of demographic data and robust estimates of demographic parameters. Estimates can then be used to develop a harvest strategy to guide decision‐making. Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) are an important species in the Atlantic Flyway for many users and they exhibited exponential growth in the eastern United States between the 1970s and 1990s. Since then, estimates of mallard abundance have declined 16%, prompting the Atlantic Flyway Council and United States Fish and Wildlife Service to implement more restrictive hunting regulations and develop a new harvest strategy predicated on an updated population model. Our primary objective was to develop an integrated population model (IPM) for use in an eastern mallard harvest management strategy. We developed an IPM using annual estimates of breeding abundance, 2‐season banding and recovery data, and hunter‐harvest data from 1998 to 2018. When developing the model, we used novel model selection methods to test various forms of a sub‐model for survival including estimating the degree of harvest additivity and any age‐specific trends. The top survival sub‐model included a negative annual trend on juvenile survival. The IPM posterior estimates for population abundance tracked closely with the observed estimates and estimates of mean annual population growth rate ranged from 0.88 to 1.08. Our population model provided increased precision in abundance estimates compared to survey methods for use in an updated harvest strategy. The IPM posterior estimates of survival rates were relatively stable for adult cohorts, and annual growth rate was positively correlated with the female age ratio, a measure of reproduction. Either or both of those demographic parameters, juvenile survival or reproduction, could be a target for management efforts to address the population decline. The resulting demographic parameters provided information on the equilibrium population size and can be used in an adaptive harvest strategy for mallards in eastern North America.

Adult white‐tailed deer survival in hunted populations on public and private lands

AbstractEstimates of sex‐ and age‐specific survival are important for guiding population management decisions for white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). However, differences in deer survival between public and private lands can exist and, if unaccounted for, may affect wildlife agencies' ability to effectively manage statewide and local deer populations. From 2014 to 2016, we radiocollared and monitored survival of 79 adult white‐tailed deer (141 deer‐years; 62 male, 79 female) on 2 public and 2 private properties in Alabama, USA. We assessed the effects of sex, age, and landownership type (i.e., public or private) on adult white‐tailed deer harvest and survival patterns using an information‐theoretic approach. Hunter harvest accounted for 77% of observed mortalities (n = 23/30), but harvest and survival rates varied by sex and age. Harvest and survival were similar between public and private property despite more restrictive hunting regulations for antlered deer on public areas. Similar harvest rates were likely due to self‐imposed, quality deer management (QDM) harvest strategies on private land that emulated the effects of a state‐mandated antler point restriction (APR) on public land. Our findings indicate survival rates of adult white‐tailed deer may be applicable across landownership types where state‐mandated harvest regulations with respect to males are more restrictive on public than private property, due to the popularity of QDM by private‐land deer hunters. However, where regulations are similar across landownership types (e.g., no state‐mandated APR), differences in harvest and survival rates may exist.

Duck hunter activity, success, and satisfaction on public hunting areas

AbstractBecause hunting disturbance can influence local distribution of ducks and their availability to hunters, managers often limit access to hunting areas to improve hunting success and satisfaction. Few studies have quantified the effectiveness of public area access restrictions on duck hunter activity, harvest, or hunters' satisfaction with their hunting experience. We used a cross‐over design over 6 consecutive hunting seasons (2008–2009 through 2013–2014) on State Wildlife Areas (SWAs) in northeastern Colorado, USA, to compare the effects of restricted hunting access regulations and regulations without these restrictions on duck hunter activity, harvest success, harvest levels, and satisfaction. We also considered effects of SWA types, duck abundance, temperature, precipitation, use of equipment by duck hunting parties, and, for hunter satisfaction, hunting success, hunting parties' satisfaction with ducks seen, habitat conditions, crowding from other hunters, and SWA regulations. The number of days when duck hunters had access to restricted properties was about half that on unrestricted properties, and unrestricted properties were used by about twice as many duck hunting parties, but the mean number of hunting parties per available hunting day and mean party size were similar under the 2 types of regulations. Most (56%) duck hunting parties did not bag any ducks; hunting success (harvest of ≥1 duck by a hunting party) was best explained by a model that included a regulation type × hunting season interaction, a SWA type × month interaction, hunter density the previous day, an index of hunter investment (number of decoys used and whether dogs and calls were used), and temperature. Successful hunting parties harvested 1.92 ± 1.60 (SD) ducks/hunter/day (range = 0.1–7.0); the best model predicting the number of ducks harvested per hunter in successful parties included a regulation type × hunting season interaction, a SWA type × month interaction, hunter density the previous day, an index of hunter investment, temperature, and precipitation. Overall satisfaction of duck hunting parties with a day's hunt averaged 3.62 ± 1.20 based on a rank scale of 1 (very unsatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), and was best explained by a model that included hunting party success; hunter investment; temperature; and satisfaction with duck numbers, habitat conditions, hunting regulations, and crowding. While greatly reducing days available for hunting, access restrictions were associated with improved chances of hunting parties successfully harvesting ≥1 duck in 5 of 6 hunting seasons, and substantially greater numbers of ducks harvested by hunters in successful parties in 1 of 6 hunting seasons. Restrictions did not have a strong direct effect on hunting parties' satisfaction with a day's hunt. Uncontrolled factors, including weather and use of equipment by hunters, had important influences on hunter success, harvest, and satisfaction. Managers should carefully assess hunting activity, hunter expectations and desires, and hunting area characteristics when considering access restrictions on public hunting areas.

Genome-Wide Association Studies Reveal Neurological Genes for Dog Herding, Predation, Temperament, and Trainability Traits.

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) using dog breed standard values as phenotypic measurements is an efficient way to identify genes associated with morphological and behavioral traits. As a result of strong human purposeful selections, several specialized behavioral traits such as herding and hunting have been formed in different modern dog breeds. However, genetic analyses on this topic are rather limited due to the accurate phenotyping difficulty for these complex behavioral traits. Here, 268 dog whole-genome sequences from 130 modern breeds were used to investigate candidate genes underlying dog herding, predation, temperament, and trainability by GWAS. Behavioral phenotypes were obtained from the American Kennel Club based on dog breed standard descriptions or groups (conventional categorization of dog historical roles). The GWAS results of herding behavior (without body size as a covariate) revealed 44 significantly associated sites within five chromosomes. Significantly associated sites on CFA7, 9, 10, and 20 were located either in or near neuropathological or neuronal genes including THOC1, ASIC2, MSRB3, LLPH, RFX8, and CHL1. MSRB3 and CHL1 genes were reported to be associated with dog fear. Since herding is a restricted hunting behavior by removing killing instinct, 36 hounds and 55 herding dogs were used to analyze predation behavior. Three neuronal-related genes (JAK2, MEIS1, and LRRTM4) were revealed as candidates for predation behavior. The significantly associated variant of temperament GWAS was located within ACSS3 gene. The highest associated variant in trainability GWAS is located on CFA22, with no variants detected above the Bonferroni threshold. Since dog behaviors are correlated with body size, we next incorporate body mass as covariates into GWAS; and significant signals around THOC1, MSRB3, LLPH, RFX8, CHL1, LRRTM4, and ACSS3 genes were still detected for dog herding, predation, and temperament behaviors. In humans, these candidate genes are either involved in nervous system development or associated with mental disorders. In conclusion, our results imply that these neuronal or psychiatric genes might be involved in biological processes underlying dog herding, predation, and temperament behavioral traits.

Relations of Blood: Hunting Taboos and Wildlife Conservation in the Idu Mishmi of Northeast India

Hunting is one of the leading causes of declines in tropical wildlife. Yet, for many traditional and Indigenous Peoples, hunting and associated rituals are integral to establishing and maintaining social identities and reciprocal relations with nature. Taboos that restrict hunting and forest use are widely prevalent in traditional societies and have been likened to informal culture-based conservation mechanisms. However, where taboos have been formally co-opted by conservation programs, the results have been largely ineffective. A recent study showed that taboos in the Idu Mishmi community of Northeast India significantly reduced wild meat consumption and contributed to biodiversity protection, including an endangered tiger population. In this study, we explore what motivates Idu taboos, their role in everyday Idu life, how they impact hunting, and whether they will endure with changing circumstances. We find that by conditioning social and personal prosperity on ancestrally mandated, morally correct behavior in the forest, Idu taboos ensure that people understand that human well-being is inextricably linked to restrictive hunting. Violation of taboo does not just bring misfortune to the violator but to all kin, forging interdependence and cohesion in the society. Taboos form the moral and practical basis of interaction between and among humans, spirits, and animals. Taboos are not an isolated component of the Idu culture; they make the Idu the Idu, the reason why they have endured through rapidly changing times. Conservation should pay careful attention not just to the outcomes of cultural institutions, but to their meanings and processes to co-create sustainable and ethical programs.

Unintended impacts from forest certification: Evidence from indigenous Aka households in Congo

Does Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of “responsible” commercial forestry change nutrition, health and wealth for indigenous peoples, like the Aka of the Congo Basin? Using hand-collected data from the boundary of a certified and an uncertified forest in the Republic of Congo five years after certification, I compare nutrition, health, and wealth using questions that are locally salient and survey timing designed to reach semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers. Though I only observe outcomes after certification, using a spatial regression discontinuity design I find suggestive evidence that activities to satisfy forest certification may cause increased food insecurity and illness frequency for Aka households. I find no evidence of increased material wealth; instead, the poorest 15th percentile is poorer for Aka households. Non-Aka households are unaffected. Activities to satisfy FSC include a road connection, likely requested by non-Aka households, which in combination with hunting restrictions may decrease food security for Aka hunter-gatherers.

The American Black Duck: Three Decades of Science-Based Adaptive Management

The American black duck (Anas rubripes) population declined by 50% between 1955 and 1985, prompting more than three decades of intensive scientific research and strategic management. Analyses of band recovery data suggest that the historical declines may have been caused in part by harvest, but even with restrictive hunting regulations implemented in the mid 1980s, populations have not recovered. Increasing competition and hybridization with mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), coupled with habitat loss and fragmentation on northern breeding grounds are hypothesized to have contributed to a lower continental black duck population. Simultaneously, there is a concern that declines in the quantity and quality of wintering habitat—coastal salt marshes of the eastern United States—may have deleterious cross-seasonal effects on black duck demographics. Black ducks have a long legacy of intensive research and management, and ongoing threats to their populations make this a well-rooted and timely case study in science-based conservation.

Long-term declines in waterbirds abundance at Lake Junín, Andean Peru

SummaryLake Junín is famous for the abundance and diversity of breeding, staging and wintering waterbirds. The lake supports the entire world population of three species or subspecies: Junín GrebePodiceps taczanowskii,Junín RailLaterallus tuerosiand the endemic subspecies of the White-tufted GrebeRollandia rolland morrisoni. Surveys undertaken in the 1930s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s confirmed the lake’s importance in the Andes, however there has been no recent assessment of its waterbird community. We undertook waterbird counts between 6 and 20 February 2014 from the lakeshore and by boat. Despite using differing survey methods, we nevertheless conclude that the relative abundance of waterbird species has changed dramatically compared to earlier counts. Most notably, the Junín Grebe has experienced a major decline since the 1930s when the species was considered extremely abundant and another native fish-eating species the White-tufted Grebe also appears to have declined. In contrast the Northern Silvery GrebePodiceps juninensis, classified as ‘Near Threatened’, has apparently become more abundant. Numbers of Puna TealSpatula punaand Common GallinuleGallinula galeataseem to have crashed, presumably reflecting the general loss of submerged vegetation. In spite of a major decline in waterbirds overall, the Junín area holds numbers of migratory shorebirds, perhaps as a consequence of local hunting restrictions and awareness campaigns. Lake Junín is a candidate for listing on the Montreux Record under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland showing serious change in ecological character. Management planning should proceed to balance conflicting interests at the lake. Actions to re-establish a clear water column by reducing eutrophication (from settlements in the catchment) as well as sedimentation and heavy metals (from upstream mining) will contribute to improving ecological functions and to secure waterbirds including the endemics.

Ptarmigan hunting restrictions: Effects on hunters’ opinions and harvest

ABSTRACTIn Norway, willow (Lagopus lagopus) and rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) populations and harvests have declined during the last few decades, and the 2 species are considered as near threatened on the Norwegian Red List. The Norwegian State‐Owned Land and Forest Enterprise (Statskog) is a main provider of ptarmigan hunting on public lands, and has recently introduced harvest restrictions in Nordland County. We investigated the relationship between hunters’ opinions and the effects of restrictions on hunters and ptarmigan harvest using online structured questionnaires (2012, n = 570) and bag reports (2009–2011, n = 8,795). A majority of hunters (66%) supported harvest restrictions, and 89% were willing to shoot fewer birds to increase population size. However, opinions towards specific management alternatives were more negative and disparate. Residency of the hunters (local or non‐resident) was the most influential factor on hunter opinions, and this reflected a tendency to approve of restrictions with the smallest effect on their own hunting practice. Our study indicates that access and the opportunity to hunt are more important to hunters than bag size. Daily and annual hunting bags were small, averaging 1.7 and 5.8 ptarmigan, respectively, and the daily bag limit of 4 birds was reached during 5.8% of hunting days. A harvest reduction of 50% implied a daily bag limit of 1 bird and a seasonal bag of 4, which were lower than what hunters found as acceptable. Hence, although hunter opinions may provide useful guidelines for the development of management practices, their opinions need to be evaluated for the actual effects they may have on the game populations. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Wildlife Management Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Threatened species to super-abundance: The unexpected international implications of successful goose conservation

Wild geese wintering in western Europe were declining by the 1930s probably due to loss of natural habitat and over exploitation through hunting, although the causes will never be known. Refuge provision and hunting restrictions from the 1950s enabled numbers to recover. Improved monitoring systems enabled the description of progressive increases and extensions of wintering range since that time, especially amongst those goose populations that increasingly exploited agricultural landscapes. This introductory article sets the scene for the special issue on the increasing interactions and conflicts created by recent increases in the range and abundance of wild geese throughout the northern hemisphere, especially with regard to agricultural damage, but including issues associated with air flight safety, human and animal health, ecosystem effects and conflicts with other biodiversity objectives. It also provides the context for finding common solutions to problems, presenting experiences from regional-, national- and flyway-coordinated management to find solutions to conflict.

The difference conservation makes to extinction risk of the world's ungulates.

Previous studies show that conservation actions have prevented extinctions, recovered populations, and reduced declining trends in global biodiversity. However, all studies to date have substantially underestimated the difference conservation action makes because they failed to account fully for what would have happened in the absence thereof. We undertook a scenario-based thought experiment to better quantify the effect conservation actions have had on the extinction risk of the world's 235 recognized ungulate species. We did so by comparing species' observed conservation status in 2008 with their estimated status under counterfactual scenarios in which conservation efforts ceased in 1996. We estimated that without conservation at least 148 species would have deteriorated by one International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List category, including 6 species that now would be listed as extinct or extinct in the wild. The overall decline in the conservation status of ungulates would have been nearly 8 times worse than observed. This trend would have been greater still if not for conservation on private lands. While some species have benefited from highly targeted interventions, such as reintroduction, most benefited collaterally from conservation such as habitat protection. We found that the difference conservation action makes to the conservation status of the world's ungulate species is likely to be higher than previously estimated. Increased, and sustained, investment could help achieve further improvements.

The impacts of a wildfire on hunting demand: a case study of a Mediterranean ecosystem

The present study attempted to estimate the socioeconomic impacts on hunting demand caused by a 2006 wildfire on a typical Mediterranean ecosystem in Greece (Kassandra peninsula). A questionnaire administered to a sample of local hunters was used to test the hypothesis that the wildfire and the consequent hunting ban, which was used by the Greek Forest Service as a measure for wildlife protection, posed a significant impact on the demand of hunters for hunting licenses and hunting trips. Using questionnaires as a source of information it was assessed what these impacts meant for the economy, either on local, or national scale, by estimating the income elasticity of demand for hunting licenses in the area of Kassandra and the expenses for hunting excursions before and after wildfire. It was observed that hunters attempted to preserve their activity despite the excessive hunting restrictions. Implications for hunting management and policy decision making were examined.

Declining trends in the majority of Greenland’s thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) colonies 1981–2011

Large population declines were reported for the thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) in Greenland for the period 1930s–1980s, but no national status has been published for the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the murres have gained more protection and several human-induced mortality factors have been markedly reduced. Here, we give an updated status based on the past 30 years of murre count data. The total Greenland population in 2011 was estimated to 468,300 birds (95 % CI 430,700–505,900) or around 342,000 breeding pairs, distributed within 19 colonies. This represents an overall reduction of 13 % since the mid-/late 1980s. In the same period, five colonies went extinct. Large and apparently stable colonies in Qaanaaq (Northwest Greenland) account for more than half the population (68 %), but most other colonies declined heavily, with up to 6 % p.a. in the most critical areas. So far, nothing indicates that food is a limiting factor in Greenland during the breeding season, although rather few colonies have been studied in details. In contrast, illegal hunting and disturbances during the breeding season are still a problem in Greenland, despite more restrictive hunting regulations, and may explain much of the continued population decline. In addition, recent studies from Svalbard indicate that a large-scale deterioration of the marine environment in the North Atlantic, due to oceanographic changes, may impact recruitment to some of the Greenland colonies. Murre colonies in southern Upernavik, Disko Bay, South Greenland and East Greenland are in urgent need of additional conservation initiatives to avoid further declines and local extinctions.

Estimates of density and sustainable harvest of the lowland tapirTapirus terrestrisin the Amazon of French Guiana using a Bayesian spatially explicit capture–recapture model

AbstractThe Amazonian moist forest, which covers most of French Guiana, is one of the core habitats for the lowland tapirTapirus terrestris. Tapirs are hunted in French Guiana, although a law introduced in 2011 restricts hunting to one animal per person per hunting trip. We carried out camera-trap surveys in the Nouragues Nature Reserve for 4 years, with the goal of estimating tapir densities in undisturbed conditions and determining sustainable harvest levels for tapirs in French Guiana. We analysed our data with a Bayesian spatially explicit capture–recapture model, with parameter sharing across surveys to improve estimates, and used the model to calculate derived parameters such as maximum sustainable harvest levels. Density estimates for all four surveys were similar and the model indicated a difference in encounter rates for the two camera models used but no difference in encounter rates or home range sizes for males and females or between years. Based on the calculated density of 0.32 tapir km−2we estimated sustainable harvest levels at 0.009 tapir km−2. Comparing this value to hunting surveys from 11 sites between 1999 and 2006, we found that hunting levels were unsustainable in at least seven villages. We conclude that even the new restrictive hunting law will not prevent overhunting of tapirs in certain areas and thus stronger regulations are needed. However, because of the remoteness of tapir habitat in many parts of French Guiana tapirs are not immediately threatened in the country as a whole.

Property Law as Labor Control in the Postbellum South

After the Civil War, state legislatures criminalized trespass, restricted hunting and fishing, and closed the range. Earlier studies cannot agree whether these changes in property law were motivated by racism or inevitably resulted from economic progress. This Article presents a more complete picture of the South and reports evidence that legal change was motivated by labor control. Like other legal change in the postbellum South, planters sought new laws to coerce blacks into working for low wages and under poor conditions.

The Right to Exclude after Emancipation: A Quantitative Study

During the nineteenth century, the landowner's rights over her own property expanded at the expense of public rights of use. States granted landowners the right to exclude livestock and (often later) people from unimproved land. Many property theorists celebrate the supposed efficiency gains arising from greater owner autonomy. At the same time, broader property rights enable owners to extract economic rents from non-owners. Few empirical studies have examined the transformation from open range to closed range. This Article examines the closing of the range in the postbellum South using previously unexamined data. Preliminary results suggest that labor control motivated closing the range in Alabama and Mississippi in the 1880s. Counties with larger black populations closed the range earlier and restricted hunting and fishing. These results are consistent with contemporary historical documents that argue a closed range and game laws would deprive blacks of alternatives to sharecropping.

Evidence of Recent Population Recovery in Common Eiders Breeding in Western Greenland

ABSTRACT Severe population declines were reported for common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in western Greenland over the period 1960–2000. A monitoring program, concurrent with more restrictive hunting regulations on common eiders, revealed breeding numbers increasing by 212%, from 2,558 active nests in 2000 to 7,982 nests in 2007. Though it was not possible to directly link harvest reduction and population growth in West Greenland, a similar increase in breeding numbers in Canada was correlated with the harvest reduction in Greenland and linked to increasing adult survival and recruitment of first‐time breeders, and a similar explanation is suggested for West Greenland. The study emphasizes that appropriate restrictions in hunting can be efficient in wildlife management and that common eiders can sustain dramatic rates of increase during population regrowth. It also shows that cost‐efficient monitoring programs can be established through cooperation with local residents.

Two outbreaks of classical swine fever in wild boar in France

In 2002 and 2003, two successive outbreaks of classical swine fever were declared in wild boar in northern France. The first was in Moselle, near the town of Thionville and the border with Luxembourg, and the second was in the northern Vosges area, near the German border. The outbreaks were investigated by serological and virological diagnosis of dead or shot animals. Hunting restrictions were applied to limit the spread of the outbreaks. The virus was detected eight times between April and July 2002 in the Thionville area, an area well delimited by natural or artificial barriers such as rivers or highways. Cooperation between the authorities concerned was good, and hunting restrictions were applied for one year. No virus was detected after July 2002 and the Thionville outbreak was officially considered over in March 2005. In the northern Vosges the situation was different, with no barriers to animal movements, continuous forest, difficulties in establishing hunting restrictions in this huge area, and the circulation of the virus in Germany close to the frontier. Virus of a different strain from that isolated in the Thionville outbreak was still being isolated in the northern Vosges in 2004, and owing to the failure of the hunting restrictions, the French health authorities decided to vaccinate wild boar.

Nez Perce Country by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.

for the vision of a producers' republic. Over time, U'ren's crusade lost its power to move workers, but not because they lost sightof the ideal it represented. Rather, risingwages and the introduction of new technologies during the 1920s, especially the automobile, margin alized it. Workers particularly esteemed the liberating effectofHenry Ford's automobiles. Ford's revolutionary ideas about assembly-line production and employee relations combined scientific management with Progressivevalues, setting wages high enough for workers tobuy his efficiently manufactured cars. Buying cars led tomore leisure,which, in turn,opened up the possibility that the lower classes would have themeans and time to relate tonature in somewhat thesameway thattheaffluentalways had.Now, nature truly would be accessible and, at themargins at least, itneed not be totally dedicated toproduction. This isa generally excellentbook, imagina tive,well documented, and clearly written. Lipin has shone a bright lighton the mechanics of a key aspect in thedecline of theProgressive impulse and the rise of consumerist culture inOregon. By grounding his discussion in labor's attitude toward nature, he has revealed a key step along the road to the contemporary relationship to nature. Still, his argument is notwithout weaknesses. His focus on the 1910s and 1920s, for example, ignores the possibil ity that the great impetus for the change in labor's views actually occurred earlier, in the late-nineteenth century. Monopoly capitalism in theGilded Age created a pervasivework-life culture thatproduced alienation and discon nectedness in workers. The labor movement responded with "EightHour Leagues," which militated for "eight hours forwork, eight hours for sleep, eighthours forwhat we will," suggesting an earlier longing among work ers for the perquisite of leisuremuch earlier than the author suggests.At the same time, the distinction was being made between the public and private spheres ? thefirstnational park,Yellowstone, was created in 1872.The rich would now have theirnatural preserves intheir private clubs and restricted hunting and fishing grounds,while the middle andworking classes would be granted their own by government. These developments implya social and cultural catalysis for the consumption of nature that developed much earlier in theworking class than isperhaps convenient forLipin s thesis. Discussions of these matters are found in, among otherworks, Burton J.Bledstein, The Culture ofProfessionalism (Norton, 1976), and Thomas R. Cox, The Park Builders (University of Washington Press, 1988). Such demurrals notwithstanding, Lipin has written a book accessible to general readers but no doubt of greatest interestto scholars of Oregon's labor,Progressive,and environmental history.Their attentionwill be richlyrewarded by this stimulatingwork. Craig Wollner Portland State University NEZ PERCE COUNTRY by AlvinM. Josephy, Jr. introduction byJeremy FiveCrows University ofNebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 2007. Illustrations, photographs, maps, index. 191pages. $14.95 paper. Alvin Josephy,Jr.(1915-2005), began writing Native American history before thefield even existed. In 1965, six years before Dee Brown's BuryMy Heart atWounded Knee (Holt, Rine hart & Winston), Josephy's monumental The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Pacific Northwest (YaleUniversity Press) offeredone of the firsthistorical accounts of American westward expansion from the Indian point of view. During the following fortyyears, he wrote or editedmore thana dozen books about Native Americans and the West, including sev eral that called attention to theirhistory after the "IndianWars" and the supposed closing of Reviews 331 the frontier. The Nez Perces remained closest tohis heart, aswell as tohis adopted home in the Wallowa Valley, and it is thereforefitting thathis final publication should be a history ofthat tribe. Intended primarily forvisitors to Nez Perce National Historical Park,Nez Perce Country provides an engaging introduction toNimi-pu- history from their pre-contact origins to the present day. Readers familiar with Josephy's work will find littlenew in this volume, but itsbrevity and claritycouldmake ita useful college survey textaswell as a guide for travelers. Josephydivides the narrative chronologi cally into nine chapters, each focusing on a major phase inNez Perce history. The first four sections survey the aboriginal world of theNimi-pu-, their friendly interactionswith theLewis and Clark Expedition, the influence of the fur trade, and the arrival ofAmerican missionaries during the 1830s. Besides intro ducing theNez Perces to Christianity, these "agents of change" generated factionalism among the Indians and provoked the back lash...

Assessing strategies to improve bowhunting as an urban deer management tool

Firearms hunting often is limited as a deer (Odocoileus spp.) management tool in urban and suburban areas due to firearms discharge ordinances, restrictive hunting laws, or public perception about firearms safety. Many states use bowhunters to manage overabundant deer populations in urban-suburban areas. Little information exists on the effectiveness of bowhunting as a deer management tool in developed areas. Our objectives were to evaluate the potential for bowhunting to manage deer populations in urban-suburban areas and identify important variables influencing hunt effectiveness. We estimated deer population size and herd composition using aerial deer surveys and spotlight counts. Nonhunting mortality was determined from radiotelemetry data. We mailed a 9-page survey to bowhunters who hunted in a residential community with high deer densities to determine harvest rates, hunter success rates, willingness to harvest additional antlerless deer, and interest in employing aggressive deer management strategies. Of 159 surveys mailed, 71% were completed and returned. We conducted model simulations using Program STELLA® (High Performance Systems Inc., Lebanon, N.H.) to determine which management strategies would contribute most to stabilizing deer population growth. Sunday hunting provided 41% fewer hunting days, yet was more effective at reducing deer population growth than a January extension. Harvesting antlerless deer that hunters were passing up had the greatest relative effect in reducing deer population size. Incentive programs for hunters to harvest antlerless deer are needed. Combining multiple hunt strategies (i.e., January and Sunday hunting) may be more effective than implementing individual hunt strategies. A special crossbow season outside the existing archery season may be an effective deer management tool in urban areas.