Forage availability and quality of supplemental feeding impact red deer reproduction and trophy value in Serbian red deer

Multiple external factors influence the production of red deer ( Cervus elaphus ) including environmental variability, herd density and supplemental feeding, and the response of populations to these interacting factors is highly variable across the distribution of the species. We assessed the impact of natural forage production, supplemental feeding and population density on female reproduction, stag trophy quality, and annual population growth rate using a 10 year data set from eight red deer management units in the Vojvodina Province of the Republic of Serbia. Unique to this dataset was a detailed accounting of the amount and types of supplemental feed provided to each management unit through time. Multivariate models indicated that nutrient availability was important to female reproduction and the production of trophy quality stags. In addition to the quality of natural forage available, we found that the type of supplemental feed was particularly important to the production of calves and to the size of antlers produced in stags. As the climate in the Western Balkans continues to shift to drier, hotter summers, supplemental feeding may become a crucial feature of maintaining trophy quality populations. Further research to optimize the type of supplemental feed provided to red deer herds is necessary.