Refuges alter elk distribution: a case study of public and private land management strategies

Wildlife managers have traditionally relied on hunting to manage elk Cervus canadensis population abundance; however, problems with elk over‐abundance and/or distributions have arisen across the western US as private landowners restrict public hunting and refuges are created. In the Sapphire Mountains of western Montana, USA, we investigated the effects of an amenity refuge expansion on elk distribution during the hunting season and contrasted this with a common public land management strategy aimed at increasing elk security through road closures. We used GPS collar data collected from male and female elk for two years before and two years after the expansion of an amenity refuge that restricted hunter access to 31 km 2 of habitat. We also evaluated elk responses to the closure of 41 km of motorcycle routes and 4 km of vehicle routes on US Forest Service (USFS) lands, implemented concurrently with the refuge expansion. Male elk use of and selection for the expanded refuge increased within the first four years of the expansion. The odds of male elk selection of the refuge in the third and fourth years after expansion were 545% higher (95% CI = 397, 738%) than the years prior to expansion. The odds of male elk selecting public hunting grounds decreased by an additional 48% (95% CI = 37, 57%) after route closures, and both male and female elk predominantly used and increased their selection for private lands with varying degrees of hunter access restrictions. Amenity refuges can rapidly alter elk distribution, while public land route closures may not. Amenity refuges challenge wildlife management. To meet this challenge, new management strategies must be developed in landscapes with increasing amenity refuges, and the effectiveness of public land road closures, as typically applied, needs examination.