Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences
Date of this Version
September 1989
Abstract
Management of deer in Wisconsin is affected by a combination of biological and environmental factors. In the Northern Forest, winter severity dramatically affects annual survival and recruitment. However, deer density goals here are above "I" carrying capacity. Thus, minor errors in harvest management are in part compensated by herd responses. Deer in the farmland areas of the state are maintained at goals that for the most part are below "I" carrying capacity. Errors in harvest management are magnified in farmland because herd responses are not compensatory. Therefore, the harvest quotas for antlerless deer must be more precise in our farmland than in our Northern Forest. Fortunately? more precise harvest management is possible here because population trends can be more accurately monitored than in forested zones.