The effects of recreational deer and hog hunting on the bahavior of Florida Panthers

Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY) accounts for approximately one-third of the land on which endangered Florida panthers (Felis concolor coryi) occur. Because it is a national preserve rather than a national park, recreational hunting is allowed. The precarious status of Florida panthers necessitates that the National Park Service consider the possible effects of human activity in BICY on panthers when making decisions regarding recreational use. To evaluate the effects of the increases in human activity associated with recreational deer and hog hunting on the behavior of panthers, I examined 8 response variables: morning activity rates, movement rates, predation success, home range size, home range shifts, distance to trails, frequency of use of the Bear Island management unit within BICY, and habitat selection. The study design consisted of a split-plot (treatment and control) with repeated measures taken before, during, and after the hunting season. BICY was the treatment area, and the adjacent Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, which both are closed to hunting, were control areas. In conjunction with current monitoring efforts by the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission and National Park Service, data (daily radio locations and activity monitoring ≥3 days/week) were collected from 1995-96 to 1997-98. Where appropriate, I also analyzed data collected by those agencies prior to 1995. I failed to detect any changes related to hunting activity for 6 of the variables. Statistical power was good for activity, movement rates of females, and predation success of females, but it was marginal for home range shifts, and was poor for movement rates of males, predation success of males, and home range size. I found relationships between several of the response variables and environmental factors other than hunting activity. In general, female panthers exhibited smaller movements, smaller home ranges, and higher predation success on large prey before the hunting season. These results may be related to the higher water levels early in my field season (approximately 01 Aug to 01 March), which began during the wet season and progressed into the dry season. I also found that morning activity rates decreased at higher temperatures. Changes in the average distance from panther radio locations to trails and in panther use of Bear Island indicated a relationship with hunting activity. For these 2 variables, statistical power was good. The proximity of panther locations to trails increased an average of 180 m from before to during the hunting season, and panthers reduced their expected use of Bear Island (the most heavily hunted unit in BICY) from 40% to 30% during the hunting season. Additionally, there was some evidence of these effects carrying over after the hunting season. Results of my analysis of movement rates (a measure of energy expenditure) and predation success (a measure of energy intake) do not indicate any direct, negative energetic responses to increased human activity during the hunting season by panthers. However, the spatial responses to trails and Bear Island are indicative of a behavioral change. The short increase in the distance to trails is probably biologically minor and may be related to prey behavior. The biological relevance of decreased use of Bear Island by panthers is difficult to assess, but because panthers in Bear Island appeared to use the private lands north of that area as refugia during the hunting season, the biological consequences this pattern of use may become more serious if future losses of panther habitat on these private lands occur. Although I found many relationships that indicate panther behavior is more profoundly affected by environmental factors, such as water level and temperature, than the levels of human activity that currently occur at BICY, hunting is 1 factor that managers can control. Short of eliminating hunting, managers may help offset any unseen consequences by increasing the predictability of hunting activity via elimination of idle periods between hunting seasons (archery, muzzleloading, and general gun). Additionally, opening each season on a weekday would help moderate large influxes of human activity. Moreover, the trends I observed for activity rates and predation success of females indicate that conducting the hunting seasons earlier in the year may be favorable. Earlier hunting seasons would concentrate disturbances to a time when female panthers demonstrated higher predation success and would provide greater temporal separation between the activities of panthers and humans because panthers exhibited less morning activity when temperatures were warmer