ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the principles of deer harvest, which consists of 3 basic components: agency managers evaluate deer populations, allocate hunting opportunities, and monitor harvest in a feedback loop called adaptive harvest management. But contemporary harvest management systems for black-tailed deer and mule deer are more complicated now than predecessors from the early history of western deer management. Human populations and demands on resources have increased, deer populations have changed, and the deer manager’s capabilities have evolved as the scientific foundations of our data have improved. The interactions between number and type of opportunities, hunter success rate and satisfaction, sustainable harvest, season length and timing, and open hunting areas are all considered simultaneously with the best available data. Current high levels of interest and participation in western deer hunting underscore the importance of properly managing this resource for everyone well into the future.
