Public Management Decisions Related to the Decline of California Deer Populations: A Comparative Management Approach

Analysis of data obtained from an ongoing internet search indicates that the U.S. deer harvest has been falling since about the year 2000. California has had the largest decline from peak to recent harvest of any state. Declining timber sales are highly correlated with the decline in California. States like California with a relatively high proportion of public land, a low hunter success rate, and a persistently skewed buck-to-doe harvest ratio report a lower harvest as a percent of peak. An economic framework is presented to explain how the public decision making process for deer management and the practice of setting the price of deer hunting licenses well below market equilibrium incentivizes some of these result.