Introduction

Manager Summary Managing deer at densities required to sustain forest resources of interest to landowners is complex and difficult, owing to the multiple interactions between deer ecology and human dimensions—all must be addressed and integrated into comprehensive management plans. Multiple factors must be addressed, such as values among differing stakeholder groups, landscape and time scales, and financial and human resources available. Important components include monitoring, managing vegetation, managing hunters, and managing access and permits for harvesting antlerless deer. All must adjust to changing conditions (adaptive management). No one size fits all, as there are multiple categories of forest landowners besides the typical, and they include small woodlot owners, quality deer management adherents, forestlands leased for deer hunting, forestlands in human residential areas/public lands without hunting, and cooperatives. The book concludes with nine case histories illustrating successful deer management over a variety of the typical and special cases, including documentation of a case history that failed because it did not integrate ecology and human dimensions.