wapiti

The Impact of 3 Deer Hunting Regimes in Northeastern Fiordland

In late 1986 an official deer hunting regime in the Murchison Mountains, Fiordland, was compared with two commerical aerial hunting regimes in the adjacent Stuart Mountains by measuring the density of deer faecal pellet groups. Overall densities in the Stuart Mountains were twice those in the Murchison Mountains. Official hunting appeared to be more effective than commercial hunting at reducing and controlling deer densities in heavily forested catchments, but not in catchments with less extensive forest cover.

Forest Understorey Changes after Reduction in Deer Numbers, Northern Fiordland, New Zealand

High deer numbers in northern Fiordland in the 1960s significantly changed forest understorey composition. The density of woody plants in the understorey was reduced in some areas by as much as 50%, and preferred plants became less abundant than those seldom eaten. However, the impact of deer and wapiti varied between forest types.

Changes in the Density and Distribution of Red Deer and Wapiti in Northern Fiordland

Deer density indices were estimated in 1969, 1975, and 1984 in the core of the Wapiti Area of Fiordland National Park. Between 1969 and 1984, density above timberline was reduced to near zero by commercial airborne hunting, with smaller decreases in the forest. Overall density declined by 81%. An estimated 2007± 385 deer were present in the 850 km2 survey area in 1984, with an average density in the forest of 3.47±0.66/km2. The highest densities remained in the most completely forested sub-area (Catseye).

Physical Influences on Forest Types and Deer Habitat, Northern Fiordland, New Zealand

Forest types of the Wapiti, Doon and Glaisnock catchments, ranked in order of proportion of preferred food species for deer, paralleled a gradient of landform stability. Seral forests and low altitude silver beech forests were preferred deer habitat because they contained the largest proportions of highly preferred species. They often occurred on unstable landforms such as debris cones, colluvial sideslopes, and terraces with recent and compound soils, assumed to be of high nutrient status.