Management of Harvested Wildlife Populations

Humans have been harvesting wild populations for the entire extent of human history. In most early human societies, a successful hunt not only fed one’s family, but also brought respect from both family and community (Bolen and Robinson 2002). Although most North Americas and western Europeans today acquire their food that was planted, harvested, and processed by someone else, hunting and harvesting of wild populations will undoubtedly continue. Harvesting wild populations is often controversial, but the ethics of harvesting wild populations is not our primary purpose here. Rather, our objectives are to 1) discuss the reasons for harvesting wild populations, 2) evaluate a variety of common strategies for harvesting, 3) discuss the theoretical foundations for maximum sustainable yield and ageand sex-biased harvests, and 4) understand the effects of harvesting on target and non-target wildlife.