Evaluation of a Linked Sex Harvest Strategy for Cervid Populations

Abstract

We evaluated the ability of the linked sex harvest strategy (LSHS) proposed by Mccullough et al. (1990) to determine optimum harvest of cervid populations from harvest statistics alone. This strategy purports to optimize total harvest by adjusting female harvest in response to observed changes in male harvest, without knowing the population's size or vital parameters (age-specific survival and productivity), and without an explicit population model. To examine LSHS, we evaluated a series of population models spanning a range of assumptions and parameter values that encompass many cervid populations. Deterministic simulations and numerical optimization were used to examine the response of these models to LSHS. Both ready state and dynamic responses of harvest statistics proposed for detecting optimal yield were examined. Based on our analyses, we were unable to identify general conditions under which LSHS, as currently proposed, provides a sound basis for harvest management. Reliable information regarding a population's vital parameters and current size of each age-sex class remains the only sound basis for near-optimum big game management involving female harvests