Moose harvesting strategies in the presence of wolves

Summary

5. Synthesis and applications. We have shown that managers facing the new challenges presented by recolonizing populations of large predators such as wolves should reduce the size of harvest quotas in order to avoid decreases in prey populations. However, the general relationship between the harvesting strategy and yield maximization is not affected by wolf predation. The harvest yield from cervid populations is often important to local economies, and moose is the single most important game species in Scandinavia. It is therefore important to implement optimal harvesting strategies under these new conditions in order to prevent an unnecessary loss of yield, and success in this task may in turn affect local attitudes towards large carnivores.