Density of Sika deer has increased in Japan since the 1970s, and it has caused serious damage to agriculture and forestry since the 1980s. We studied the relationships between Sika deer density, hunting pressure and damage to agriculture in Hyogo Prefecture in 1999-2000. To ascertain the relationship between deer density and hunting pressure, we analyzed data corresponding to 4km (NS) X 5km (EW) grids. The hunting pressure on Sika deer tended to be intense in the grids where deer density was high. An increase in deer density in a grid was affected by hunting pressure on females in a wide range including neighboring grids, rather than that on males and hunting pressure in the grid. The deer causing damage to agriculture seemed to exist within 2.5 km from the border of farms. The higher the proportion of Japanese cedar or Japanese cypress plantation in forest areas around farms was, the greater the damages to farms by deer. Based on these results, we discuss how we should apply them to wildlife management and what we should study to supplement the limitation sof existing research.
