Culling deer around the road by firearms as a deer management option : A trial on national route with roadblock

Abstract

Although roadside forests are frequently used as refuge areas for deer, social and legal regulations make it difficult to manage deer populations around roads. The lakeshore forest of Shikotsu, adjacent to National Route 453, has been severely impacted by high deer density. To develop deer management options such roadside forests, sharpshooting with a vehicle was implemented by temporally blocking the National Route 453. This first trial on a Japanese national route was implemented on a 6.4km stretch of the road from 6:30 to 8:00 a.m. on 25th and 27th February 2014, with the consent of local residents and in collaboration with the relevant ministries, agencies, and local governments. Twelve deer were culled without any difficulty, and this was as effective as the previous similar culling conducted in the Shiretoko Peninsula. Our findings suggest that as long as societal demand, scientific evidence, and strict safety control are present, sharpshooting from a vehicle at a roadblock is an effective method for controlling deer populations. Under the special circumstances of the roadblock, this option offers maximum efficiency for the management of high-deer-density areas, in particular, areas protected by current social and legal regulations.