Planning for Deer-Hunting Management at the Local and Regional Scales: Reconciling Economic, Social and Ecological Functions

Cláudio Bicho, Rui Machado, Russell Alpizar-Jara and Pedro Santos ()
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Cláudio Bicho: Department of Landscape, Environment and Planning, School of Sciences and Technology, University of Évora, Colégio Luís Verney, Rua Romão Ramalho, nº 59, 7000-671 Évora, Portugal
Rui Machado: CHANGE—Global Change and Sustainability Institute, MED—Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, University of Évora, Mitra Pole, Ap. 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal
Russell Alpizar-Jara: IIFA—Institute for Advanced Studies and Research, Palácio do Vimioso, Largo Marquês de Marialva, Apart. 94, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal
Pedro Santos: Department of Landscape, Environment and Planning, School of Sciences and Technology, University of Évora, Colégio Luís Verney, Rua Romão Ramalho, nº 59, 7000-671 Évora, Portugal

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-23

Abstract: Game species with home ranges exceeding the area of the management units may entail conflicts over hunting rights and cause damage to crops and forest stands in surrounding areas. This is currently the case in the Mendro Mountain Range (Portugal), inhabited by free-ranging red ( Cervus elaphus ) and fallow deer ( Dama dama ) populations. This study’s primary goal was to uncover the processes underlying these tensions and identify solutions to overcome them, thus reconciling the economic, social, and ecological functions of hunting. We analyzed data from three different sources of information regarding the surveyed management units: biophysical and anthropical spatial data collected using a GIS; typology, whether fenced, area and game bag results, data provided by a public institute; crop and forest damage locations reported by game managers. Approximately half of the surveyed open management units reported damage. We found no relationship between damage and game bag results, regardless of the typology and habitat quality index. To address this disconnection between the negative and positive values associated with deer locally, we proposed habitat management solutions. It is of chief importance to keep valuable crops apart from deer’s refuge cover, such as bushy areas, to minimize damage in management units where deer hunting is a subsidiary activity. Conversely, in management units where deer hunting is of significant economic importance, the food and refuge cover should be closely interspersed to increase the management unit’s carrying capacity. To improve the efficacy of measures such as this at a regional scale, as in the Mendro Mountain Range, we recommend implementing a so-called Global Management Plan. In Portuguese law, this governance instrument applies to the entire biologic unit where the deer populations occur, thus implying arrangements between the involved stakeholders and multiple other concerned institutions.

Keywords: hunting multifunctionality; game management; crop damage; institutions’ interplay; governance; Cervus elaphus; Dama dama; Alentejo (Portugal) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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