Impact of Selective Hunting on the Trophy Size of Roe Deer : Baltic Example

With antlers valuated as trophies, ungulates experience high pressures due to selective hunting. The response of the population differs depending on the type of hunting strategy used, and trophies serve as a suitable proxy to answer this question. For example, unrestricted trophy or leisure hunting results in a diminishing quality of trophies. We evaluated the effect of the applied hunting strategy on European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) antler size in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia between 2006 and 2011. With the aim of preserving good quality bucks up to 5 years of age, compensatory hunting (culling) is obligatory in Lithuania. To the north, in the other two Baltic countries, roe deer buck are hunted with no age limit. Based on nonparametric tests and forward stepwise discriminant function analysis of antler morphometric characters, Lithuanian roe deer antlers were found to be significantly larger (about 40 % by mean weight and volume for the 35 biggest trophies). We conclude that bucks in Latvia and Estonia are hunted out before they reach trophy maturity (5-7 years). The antlers of fast growing bucks in the age of 3-4 years are almost as big, so they are untimely eliminated from the population. We recommend extending the preservation period of healthy roe deer buck to 6 years of age, giving hunters the possibility to estimate their age not solely on antler size, but also on other body characters.