Culling Regimes and Sex Ratio Biases in Highland Red Deer

Managers of many ungulate populations seek to maximize the number and quality of mature males that can be harvested each year rather than the total harvest. Since competition between the sexes in dimorphic ungulates is commonly asymmetric and increasing population density depresses the growth and survival of males more than females, different culling policies may need to be applied to the two sexes to realize this objective. In this paper, we use observed density-dependent changes in reproduction and survival in an unculled red deer (Cervus elaphus) population in the North Block of the Isle of Rum to model the responses of males and females to different levels of culling or predation