Using Choice Experiments to Inform Changes to Deer Hunting Seasons

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) management embodies a shift in the field of human dimensions toward the union of biological and social sciences to achieve more comprehensive and inclusive decision making. Hunters... [ view full abstract ]

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) management embodies a shift in the field of human dimensions toward the union of biological and social sciences to achieve more comprehensive and inclusive decision making. Hunters are important clients and partners in deer management, providing valuable perspectives to state agencies. However, meeting both biological and constituent goals is complicated as hunters tend to embody Hobbes’s rational maximizer, desiring scenarios that will maximize individual benefit. Meeting their desires for more opportunities and trophy quality deer would likely be achieved at the expense of the integrity of the herd. Optimizing policy and deer herd management amidst conflicting biological and social goals means state agencies and hunters will need to make trade-offs, but few studies engage this important research topic. We used a web-based survey administered at the county level, attitudinal measures, and Sawtooth Software’s conjoint based conjoint (CBC) analysis to reveal a) specific contradictions among North Carolina hunter desires b) the relative importance of gun season length, antlered and antlerless bag limits, timing of the gun season, and length of blackpowder season in hunter decision-making, and c) hunter preferences for proposed deer season configurations. Responses (N=25,508) revealed four inconsistencies that attitudinal surveys alone could not address. Analysis of CBC results suggests that gun season length and bag limits are most important in hunter decision-making across the state. Hunters tended to prefer gun seasons that were at least the same length as and bag limits that are fewer than what currently exist. Modeling a four-option scenario revealed that hunters preferred a deer season that optimizes hunter desires. When asked to make trade-offs to meet both biological and social goals, in most instances, a balanced season was preferred over the current season. This study demonstrated that achieving socially and biologically balanced deer seasons may be achieved by investigating the implicit trade-offs that hunters are willing to make. A balanced hunting season should result in improved herd quality as well as hunter satisfaction and trust of agency decisions.