Data and code from: Impact evaluation shows that hunting without quotas has contrasting effects on deer harvest across management levels

Hunting is widely used to manage deer populations and their impacts on ecosystems. Various management strategies can be used to ensure that the hunting bag is of adequate size and composition to actually control population growth, including the abolishment of hunting quotas. However, the actual impacts of hunting without quotas on deer harvest are rarely assessed. Here we evaluated the impact of hunting without quotas on roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, by comparing the hunting bag seven years before and after the abolishment of hunting quotas in the federal state and state forests. We used linear mixed models and a counterfactual approach to separate the impact of hunting without quotas from confounding factors that also influence roe deer harvest. We found no significant change in annual harvest densities (i.e., the number of harvested roe deer per 100 ha) overall, but a significant increase in harvest densities in state forests. This increase was most pr..., , # Data and code for: Impact evaluation shows that hunting without quotas has contrasting effects on deer harvest across management levels **Authors:** Maya Hasenfuß, Johannes Signer, Niko Balkenhol # File overview ### Data files (`data/`) | File | Description | | --------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `3.hunting_data_Schleswig-Holstein.csv` | Annual roe deer harvest data for the entire federal state of Schleswig-Holstein | | `4.hunting_data_state_forest.csv` | Annual roe deer harvest data for individual state forest districts, including sex- and age-class-specific harvest densities | Both files use `;` as the column separator and `,` as the decimal separator. ..., ,