Kaibab Deer Management Summary

The Arizona Deer Association (ADA) has spent significant time and money to help improve deer management on the Kaibab.  We have focused on getting better population estimates and winter range condition measurements as well as funding habitat improvement projects on the Kaibab.  The ADA argued with AGFD for years that their population model overestimated the number of deer on the Kaibab and that the cliffrose monitoring they used to evaluate winter range condition was not reliable.  The ADA felt that the doe harvest levels AGFD was recommending were unjustified.  This made for several contentious commission meetings over the years where the ADA pushed for (and received) reductions in doe harvest levels.  These reductions in harvest levels were not insignificant, amounting to hundreds, if not thousands, of does saved from harvest over the years.  But in order to facilitate a long-term solution to this problem, we decided to break the cycle of conflict and find a way to assist AGFD in getting better data.  We hired a consulting firm to help us evaluate the current AGFD population survey design and to make recommendations on improvements.  Then we helped fund a better population survey based on those recommendations which found that the computer model used by AGFD had indeed overestimated the number of deer on the Kaibab.   AGFD used that survey data to recalibrate the model and plans to recalibrate it periodically in the future.  In addition to getting better population estimates, the ADA has pushed for better techniques for evaluating the condition of the winter range.  We again hired some consultants to evaluate the methods being used by AGFD and to offer improvements.  AGFD conducted the research to evaluate their monitoring methods and found that their methods were inadequate.  Here is a quote from the AGFD press release, “Although the final analyses have yet to be completed, one thing is clear: The cliffrose monitoring is not adequate to detect effects of mule deer abundance on winter range.”  We have worked hard with AGFD to find better ways to manage the deer on the Kaibab.  Below are links to a few articles about this effort.  Thank you to AGFD for partnering with us and continuing to improve management on the Kabiab based on research. 

Moving Forward on the Kaibab - a summary article by Amanda Moors, Fall 2005.

Kaibab : A Search for Answers to Important Questions - a summary article by Pete Cimellaro.  

Summary of the May 2005 fieldtrip by Mark Bool

Read the 2009 press release from AGFD regarding changes in management based on research the ADA pushed for. 

Read a 2009 article by Amanda Moors and Jim deVos summarizing some of the research work.

View a 2011 powerpoint presentation given by AGFD research biologist Steven Rosenstock regarding winter range evaluation

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