Influence of forestland characteristics on spatial distribution of hunters

To determine the effects of 17 access, cover, relief, and game variables, we interviewed hunters as they left a 9,500-ha area of national forest and private land in West Virginia. Hunters were classed as hunting for deer (Odocoileus virginianus), turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo), or squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis, S. niger). The area was divided into 166 blocks of 64.8 ha or less, and each block was rated on the 17 variables. The number of hunters that visited a block decreased with distance from a trail, camping or parking site, road, or wildlife clearing, and with decreases in length of public land boundary and amount of game seen. In regressions of data from 3 years, all variables accounted for 33 to 44 percent of the variation in visits to the blocks and the 6 most important variables accounted for 26 to 30 percent. These were trails (all hunters), camping or parking sites (deer and turkey), wildlife clearings (turkey), public boundary, roads, and game seen (squirrel hunters). Proximity of trails accounted for much more variation in hunter visits than cover type did, but game distribution related more to cover type than to trails. Hunter-game contact could be increased least expensively by trail management. The findings suggest limits of the effectiveness of management alternatives, and that hunters were influenced by factors other than site characteristics and game-seeking efficiency.