ABSTRACT
The restoration and recovery of white-tailed deer is a global wildlife management success with few parallels. Throughout most of the twentieth century, wildlife agencies catered to a narrow group of constituents-hunters, anglers, and trappers. For decades, deer hunter numbers and agency deer management programs increased as deer populations expanded. Traditional management strategies maximized buck harvests and resulted in high hunter success and satisfaction. By the 1980s, signs of change began to emerge on many fronts. Deer populations were overabundant in many areas, deer herd sex ratios were highly unbalanced favoring females, license sales were declining, hunter expectations were changing, and wildlife agency responsibilities were expanding.
