Living under the scope: behavior affects survival in a heavily harvested and long-lived ungulate

The spatiotemporal behavior of game species may play a critical role in
their survival throughout the hunting season. Where humans are the most
dominant predators, avoidance of landscape features that allow hunters
access to hunting grounds can be key to increasing survival. However, in
Sweden there is limited knowledge about how hunters impact populations
through selection of behavioral traits. In this system, hunting pressure
is generally high, and approximately 30% of the moose (Alces alces)
population is harvested per year. To test for differences in habitat
selection in relation to survival under varying levels of hunting pressure
in this long-lived game species, we analyzed 10 years of individual-based
movement data of adult male and female moose in southern Sweden. We used
integrated Step Selection Functions to analyze habitat selection in four
consecutive time periods (before the rutting season, during the rut,
during the first three weeks of the hunting season and the following three
weeks). We matched habitat selection coefficients of individual animals
with their fate and tested for behavioral differences between harvested
and non-harvested male and female moose in each period. Our findings
indicate that hunters may select for sex-specific behavioral traits in
habitat selection by adult moose. We found that hunters harvested male
moose that selected for higher NDVI during the rut, suggesting
personality-driven hunting mortality in male moose. In contrast, in female
moose, the mortality risk increased with selection for shorter distance to
roads during the hunting season, suggesting selection for behavioral
traits by hunters. Our findings indicate that current harvest practices
for moose result in a selection for sex-specific behavioral traits. Our
study highlights the complex dynamics of survival in a long-lived species
under high hunting pressure, revealing how sex-specific habitat selection
may impact mortality risk by hunters and, in return, might influence
population management.