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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Abstract

Some state wildlife agencies (SWAs) consider survey data representing stakeholders’ deer (Cervidae) population preferences when setting local deer management objectives. It is important for wildlife managers to understand how and why deer population preferences differ between 2 key stakeholder groups: hunters and nonhunters. Between February 2018 and March 2020, we collected data from property owners throughout the state of New York, USA (n = 7,357 usable cases), that allowed us to compare factors that influence deer population preference. We used structural equation modeling to test assumptions about the relationships between deer-related interests and concerns, deer density, attitudes toward deer, and population preference. Best fit models explained more variance in deer population preference for nonhunters than for hunters (46% and 28%, respectively). For both groups, attitude toward deer and concern about browse-related damage were strong, and deer density and disease concerns were weak, explanatory variables. Although concern about deer-related problems played an important role in hunter’s deer population preferences, their mean level of concern was lower when compared to nonhunters, which partially explains why relatively few hunters preferred a deer population reduction. Nonhunters had a higher level of concern about deer and a lower level of interest in deer than hunters, which helps explain why relatively few nonhunters preferred a deer population increase. Differences in deer-related perceptions between hunters and nonhunters pose challenges for SWAs seeking to integrate stakeholder preferences into deer management objectives. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the true proportion of hunters and nonhunters in the target audience for a given deer management survey.

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