The value of changes in deer season length: An application of the nested multinomial logit model

Increasing deer populations can be controlled through manipulating harvest limits or season length. While such actions often result in benefits to hunters, both motorists and the agricultural sector also benefit as a lower deer population leads to fewer incidences of harmful human-deer encounters. Traditional recreation demand models are often employed to examine the welfare implications of changes in daily hunting bag limits. Studies measuring the effects of changes in season length, however, are noticeably absent from the literature. This study uses a nested random utility model to examine hunter choice over site and season selection to derive the values of changes in season length.