The relationship between quotas and harvest in the alpine reindeer population on Hardangervidda, Norway

Abstract

Hunting of cervids is commonly regulated by quotas that are specific to sex and age groups. There is substantial cultural variation in how quotas are regulated. In Scandinavia, the entire quotas are often not shot making deer management potentially less predictable. However, the effect of quota size and demographic composition on harvest offtake by recreational hunters has, to a limited extent, been empirically investigated in Scandinavia. Hunters are limited by time and opportunity and may not respond to changes in quota, as anticipated by managers. We analysed the variation in the proportion of quotas filled depending on quota size relative to population size and demographic composition of quotas during the period of 1986–2019 involving a population size varying from approximately 5000 to 15,000 reindeer on Hardangervidda, Norway. We found that the proportion of quota being filled by hunters varied substantially (12–48%) on an annual basis. The quota occasionally exceeded the estimated population size, but the proportion of the quota filled increased the higher the population size was relative to the quota size. The proportion of quota being filled by hunters was markedly lower for calf licences. High annual variation in the proportion of quota being filled by hunters causes considerable implementation uncertainty when managers aim to regulate cervid populations. Nevertheless, there was a strong correlation between quota size and harvest size. Facing new management requirements, a harvest rate of ~ 47% of the adult male population size was achieved in 2019, compared to an average of 16%. Hence, managers compensated for the low proportion of quota being filled by increasing quotas to reach target harvesting aims, but there remains a limit as to how precisely such a wide-ranging reindeer population can be regulated using recreational hunters.

Monitoring of chronic wasting disease (CWD) (IV)

“…This has yielded greatly increased sample sizes. In 2019 alone, 47% of the adult male population on Hardangervidda was removed, compared to an average harvest rate of 16% (Mysterud et al., 2021a ). This has skewed the population sex ratio towards females and lowered the age of males in the population (Rolandsen et al., 2022 ).…”

“…A strongly male-biased harvesting has been at the core of these efforts. This was implemented due to an observed higher probability of CWD in adult males than females in Nordfjella, and the fact that the proportion of adult males does not affect population recruitment in this polygynous species (Mysterud et al, 2020c(Mysterud et al, , 2021a. This has yielded greatly increased sample sizes.…”

An infectious disease outbreak and increased mortality in wild alpine reindeer

“…From a collection of 1 × 1 km gridded datasets over Norway based on observational data and interpolation methods (Lussana et al, 2019; Saloranta, 2016), we collected daily records of temperature and precipitation from Hardangervidda during 2005–2021. We calculated mean values per day for the Hardangervidda wild reindeer area (Mysterud et al, 2021), followed by descriptive statistics per month (minimum, mean, median, 75% quantile, and maximum), and assessed the extent to which 2019 had unusual climatic conditions in terms of high temperature and above‐normal precipitation. We focused on the late summer season, which is assumed to be the critical period for the outbreak of digital necrobacillosis (Skjenneberg & Slagsvold, 1968).…”

Challenges and opportunities using hunters to monitor chronic wasting disease among wild reindeer in the digital era

“…For the populations most at risk (Hardangervidda and Nordfjella zone 2), extra harvesting targeting adult males and culling by marksmen were also performed (Mysterud et al, 2020). This increased harvest was effective in increasing sample sizes, and ~47% of the adult male segment on Hardangervidda was removed in a single year (Mysterud et al, 2021). However, such actions are controversial among hunters.…”