Effects of Harvest on Antlers of Simulated Populations of Elk

Because the long-term effects of harvest on elk (Cervus elaphus) antlers are largely unkown, I used computer simulations to evaluate a variety of harvest plans. Parameters were systematically altered in the simulations to determine the effect on harvest yields and frequencies of genes influencing the number of antler points. Although the yield and the amount of change in gene frequencies varied as a result of the alterations, the pattern for each harvest plan was consistent. Some plan, like those restricting harvest of branch antlered bulls to certain years, always increased the frequency of alleles promoting more points, whereas plans based on a minimum number of points always decreased the frequency of these alleles