Can compensatory culling offset undesirable evolutionary consequences of trophy hunting?

1. There is growing concern about the evolutionary consequences of human harvesting on pheno-typic trait quality in wild populations. Undesirable consequences are especially likely with trophy hunting because of its strong bias for specific phenotypic trait values, such as large antlers in cer-vids and horns in bovids. Selective hunting can cause a decline in a trophy trait over time if it is her-itable, thereby reducing the long-term sustainability of the activity itself. 2. How can we build a sustainable trophy hunting tradition without the negative trait-altering effects? We used an individual-based model to explore whether selective compensatory culling of ‘low quality ’ individuals at an early life stage can facilitate sustainability, as suggested by informa-tion from managed game populations in eastern and central Europe. Our model was rooted in empirical data on red deer, where heritability of sexual ornaments has been confirmed and pheno-typic quality can be assessed by antler size in individuals as young as 1 year. 3. Simulations showed that targeted culling of low-quality yearlings could counter the selective effects of trophy hunting on the distribution of the affected trait (e.g. antler or horn size) in prime-aged individuals.Assumptions of trait heritability and young-to-adult correlationwere essential for compensation, but the model proved robust to various other assumptions and changes to inpu