ニホンジカにおける鉱塩の誘引効果の検証

抄録

 Sika deer populations must be reduced to control their distribution expansion and decrease damage to agricultural crops and ecosystems. However, due to aging hunters, wildlife managers need to capture deer efficiently. Considering these aspects, capture by feeding has been proposed, but there is no information on the attractiveness of mineral salts to male or female deer. Therefore, we conducted feeding experiments from May to September 2019 to evaluate the attractiveness of mineral salt based on sex. Our results showed that the feeding frequency of mineral salts was higher than that of the other three baits, and the feeding frequency in female deer was higher than that in males. By contrast, we found no differences in the staying time of mineral salts between male and female deer, and the feeding frequency of mineral salts for males increased with time from the start of the attraction. Therefore, mineral salts may sufficiently attract male and female deer, especially during the initial phase of attraction, and may selectively attract females later. To efficiently attract females using mineral salts, it is necessary to know the herd composition in the target area and verify their attractiveness of mineral salts.