Hunters’ appreciation of a targeted deer-management program transcends harvest

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Too many white-tailed deer are damaging forests in the U.S. by eating young plants before they can grow, limiting forest regeneration and damaging biodiversity. To mitigate this challenge, the Pennsylvania Game Commission implemented an initiative called the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) that helps landowners manage deer populations by allowing hunters to harvest more female deer where they are overabundant. While hunters largely value and enjoy hunting in DMAP areas, they have some sentiments that may help inform wildlife management, according to a new study by Penn State researchers.

They recently published their work, conducted in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, in Forest Policy and Economics.

“The Game Commission depends on hunters to help it manage deer, so how hunters feel about participating in a key program like DMAP is important,” said study co-author and team leader Melissa Kreye, associate professor of forest resources management in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “To help make a deer-control initiative like DMAP more effective, the agency could consider addressing hunter satisfaction, along with harvest numbers.”

To learn hunter sentiments about participating in the DMAP program, the team surveyed 2,127 hunters who bought DMAP permits in Pennsylvania state forests in 2021. They asked the hunters how valuable hunting is to them economically, what kinds of hunting experiences they prefer and whether they would participate in the DMAP program again in the future.

The team used two economic tools to calculate the worth of the hunting experience in DMAP areas: the travel cost method — which estimates how much people “value” recreational activities like deer hunting based on what they spend to get to their hunting location; and a choice experiment — which asks people to choose between different scenarios to reveal preference.

The team reported two major findings. First, they found that hunters derive substantial economic value from participating in the DMAP program. Hunters gained about $87 of value per trip — called consumer surplus by the researchers. This means that even after paying for travel, hunting license, accessories and time, those surveyed found their hunting experience with DMAP permits worthwhile.

Second, hunters were focused more on having a pleasant experience than just harvesting deer. Hunters said they would prefer that fewer DMAP permits be issued to prevent crowded conditions.

“The majority of hunters we surveyed said they wanted more deer in their hunting area, with fewer other hunters nearby,” said study first author Arun Regmi, postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management. “That’s a bit of a perception mismatch between hunters and a deer-reduction program like DMAP, but the Game Commission needs to know what its customers value. Effective wildlife management requires understanding not just biological populations but hunter motivations and behaviors that regulate them.”

Even though the DMAP program was conceived by the Game Commission to harvest more deer, the majority of hunters who participate aren’t motivated primarily by maximizing their harvest. Instead, Regmi explained, most told the researchers that they care more about the experience, connection to the forest and personal enjoyment.

If the goal is to have hunters reduce deer populations to protect forests, the study’s findings suggest that simply offering more DMAP permits might not be effective, Regmi pointed out.

“Wildlife managers should design programs that improve the hunting experience, because better hunter experiences will result in more participation, allowing better deer population control, leading to healthier forests,” Regmi said.

Duane Diefenbach, professor of wildlife ecology, and Jesse Kreye, associate research professor of fire and natural resources management, contributed to the research.

The research was funded by Penn State Extension. The Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry, helped conduct the survey.