Characteristics of idaho elk hunters relative to road access on public lands

摘要

We surveyed elk (Cervus elaphus) hunters who used a roaded area (RO), a managedaccess area (MA), and an "unroaded" area (UN) to investigate their demographics, behaviors, and opinions on restricting motorized access. Such information is important to understand how managing access influences hunter density, success, other human dimensions of hunting, and ultimately elk hunting mortality. Over 60% of hunters reported that managing access (i.e., closing roads) was "easily acceptable" or "tolerable" as an elk management tool. Hunters who reported road closures as "not acceptable" hunted more frequently in RO, were the most "experienced," and hunted closest to home. Differences among RO, MA, and UN hunters occurred in hunting "skill" level, distance between home and hunting area, how they determined where to hunt, and what method of transportation they used while hunting. These results should be applied cautiously to other areas because we had no spatial replicates. Nevertheless, managers may target education programs, anticipate changes in demographics and behaviors with road closures, and consider our results hypotheses while managing road access within an adaptive framework.