Hunting is the predominant way of controlling many wildlife populations devoid of large carnivores. It subjects animals to mortality rates that far exceed natural rates and that differ markedly in which age, sex, or size classes are removed relative to those of natural predators. To explain the emerging selection pattern we develop behavioral microfoundations for a hunting model, emphasizing in particular the constraints given by the formal and informal norms, rules, and regulations that govern the hunter's choice. We show how a shorter remaining season, competition among hunters, lower sighting probabilities, and higher costs all lead to lower reservation values, i.e., an increased likelihood of shooting a particular animal. Using a unique dataset on seen and shot deer from Norway, we test and confirm the theoretical predictions in a recreational and meat-motivated hunting system. To achieve sustainability, future wildlife management should account for this predictable selection pressure.hunting selection | optimal stopping | hunter behavior | social dilemma A lthough natural large predators are now recolonizing many industrialized countries (1), their functional roles are still limited and most wildlife populations in Europe are mainly controlled by hunting (2). Hunting is the predominant cause of adult mortality for 80-90% of the individual animals in deer populations (3). Despite this high hunting pressure, populations have grown and expanded their range, often resulting in overabundance (4). Part of this increase is due to hunter selectivity having distorted the natural sex and age distribution (5). The reluctance to shoot females with offspring facilitates rapid population growth, but skewing sex ratio also affects evolutionary processes. In some ungulate populations with heavy trophy hunting, there is concern that selective removal of specific phenotypic traits leads to evolution even over short timespans of a few tens of generations (6). There is hence an urgent need to inform policies on how to manage wildlife in a way that does not endanger the health of the supporting ecosystem or the resilience of the hunted population. To better understand how overall hunting pressure maps to population dynamics and potential for evolution, we need to understand selectivity.In Norway, the population size, distribution, and resulting hunting quota for red deer (Cervus elaphus) have increased dramatically. The west coast holds the majority of the population, with more than 75% of the red deer being harvested in the counties Møre and Romsdal, Sogn and Fjordane, and Hordaland (Fig. 1). Red deer is the second most valuable hunted species in terms of meat value (after moose, Alces alces), and there is an increasing interest for trophy hunting.In the ecological literature, selectivity by hunters has been treated as a static property, focusing mostly on the extreme case of trophy hunting (7,8). However, only a small proportion of hunting is for trophies; most hunting is for recreation, meat, or population regulation (9). Mo...