Regulated hunting is the foundation of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. This conservation paradigm arose out of a movement, lead by prominent hunters, to stop over-exploitation of wildlife by market hunters and the desire to have wildlife accessible to all people. Since then, hunters have contributed billions of dollars to wildlife management that benefit countless wildlife species. These funds support wildlife management agencies which manage all wildlife species, not just those that are hunted. This unique and successful conservation paradigm is responsible for supporting a wide variety of conservation activities, including law enforcement, research, information and education, habitat management and acquisition, as well as wildlife population restoration and management. Although wildlife conservation activities embrace far more than the hunted species, hunters continue to be the primary agents of financial support, management assistance and organized advocacy.

Aim: To develop an updated distribution model and habitat suitability analysis for the Mexican wolf, to inform the recovery efforts in Mexico and the United States.Location: Mexico and the southwestern United States.Methods: We used an ensemble species distribution modelling (SDM) approach and a spatial analysis combining anthropogenic and ecological variables, including, for the first time, rangewide relative density estimates of wild ungulates, to determine the extent of suitable habitat for wolves within a region that includes the known historical range of the Mexican wolf and adjacent areas.Results: The results showed that the modelled distribution of the Mexican wolf extended from central Arizona and New Mexico, and western Texas in the United States, southwards along the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental, to the high sierras of Oaxaca, in Mexico. The habitat suitability models indicated that large tracts (>81,000 km²) of high‐quality habitat still exist for the Mexican wolf in the southwestern United States, and the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico, which could ensure recovery within its historical range.Main conclusions: The recovery of the Mexican wolf is a complex, multidimensional socio‐ecological challenge, which requires binational cooperation guided by reliable information and robust scientific procedures. The next step is to carry out specific socio‐ecological studies and actions for selected candidate sites to assess their viability for hastening its recovery.

The huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus) is endangered, with 1500 deer split into >100 subpopulations along 2000 km of the Andes. Currently occupied areas are claimed-erroneously-to be critical prime habitats. We analyzed historical spatiotemporal behavior since current patterns represent only a fraction of pre-Columbian ones. Given the limited knowledge, the first group (n = 6) in Argentina was radio-marked to examine spatial behavior. Historically, huemul resided year-round in winter ranges, while some migrated seasonally, some using grasslands >200 km east of their current presence, reaching the Atlantic. Moreover, huemul anatomy is adapted to open unforested habitats, also corroborated by spotless fawns. Extreme naivety towards humans resulted in early extirpation on many winter ranges—preferentially occupied by humans, resulting in refugee huemul on surrounding mountain summer ranges. Radio-marked huemul remained in small ranges with minimal altitudinal movements, as known from other subpopulations. However, these resident areas documented here are typical summer ranges as evidenced by past migrations, and current usage for livestock. The huemul is the only cervid known to use mountain summer ranges year-round in reaction to anthropogenic activities. Losing migratory traditions is a major threat, and may explain their presently prevalent skeletal diseases, reduced longevity, and lacking recolonizations for most remaining huemul subpopulations.

Black-tailed and mule deer represent one of the largest distributions of mammals in North America and are symbols of the wide-open American West. Each chapter in this book was authored by the world’s leading experts on that topic. Both editors, James R. Heffelfinger and Paul R. Krausman, are widely published in the popular and scientific press and recipients of the O. C. Wallmo Award, given every two years to a leading black-tailed and mule deer expert who has made significant contributions to the conservation of this species. In addition, Heffelfinger has chaired the Mule Deer Working Group sponsored by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies for more than 15 years. This working group consists of the leading black-tailed and mule deer experts from each of 24 states, provinces, and territories in western North America, putting them at the forefront of all conservation and much of the research on this species. The book represents all current knowledge available on these deer, including how changing conditions such as fires, habitat alteration and loss, disease, climate change, socio-economic forces, energy development, and other aspects are influencing their distribution and abundance now and into the future. It takes a completely fresh look at all chapter topics. The revisions of distribution, taxonomy, evolution, behavior, and new and exciting work being done in deer nutrition, migration and movements, diseases, predation, and human dimensions are all assembled in this volume. This book will instantly become the foundation for the latest information and management strategies to be implemented on the ground by practitioners and to inform the public. Although this book is about deer, the topics discussed influence most terrestrial wildlife worldwide, and the basic concepts in many of the chapters are applicable to other species.