Managing Axis Deer On Maui and Moloka‘i
Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife Working With Partners On Axis Deer
01 / 20
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Once thought of as a gift' Axis deer come with some benefits, but many costs.
Government and private land managers have inherited a double-edged sword: Axis deer. In their 160+ years on Moloka‘i, Lana‘i and Maui they have radically altered ecosystems, agriculture, water supplies and life in the islands. While a resource to some, most agree there are too many. Understanding their breeding biology and history here can give us tools for managing them and all the resources they affect in the future.
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A gift to a king becomes a blessing to the deer.
In 1868, British-ruled Hong Kong gave a diplomatic present of eight Axis deer (four males, four females) to King Kamehameha V (Prince Lot) and they were left on Moloka‘i. By the 1880's, they had grown to over 1,000 and by 1900 they had exploded into more than 7,500. Land owners destroyed more than 3,500 that year in order to slow the tidal wave. In their native lands they have nine natural predators, in Hawai‘i, only one: people.
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Twelve Axis deer were taken from Moloka‘i to Lāna‘i in 1920.
Despite overpopulation and environmental problems seen on Moloka‘i earlier, the deer were introduced to Lana‘i and history began to repeat itself. Today, Axis deer numbers there are managed by both the State and the private land owner. Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife leases and manages 30,000 acres (~1/3 of Lana‘i) from the land-owner to maintain public hunting for multiple game animals. Licensed hunters can hunt Axis deer in the Lānaʻi Cooperative Game Management Area (LCGMA) in seasons with tags and permits. For more info go to: https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/recreation/hunting/
4
In the last session of the Territorial Government of Hawai‘i, 1959...
Maui was ordered to take deer and face the same challenges already seen on Moloka‘i and Lana‘i. Between 1959 and 1960 three males and six female deer were deposited on Maui.
ACT 10 An Act Providing for the Establishment of Deer and Other Game Mammals on the Island of Maui. Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii:
The board of agriculture and forestry shall establish deer and such other game mammals, as are found suitable, on the island of Maui. … shall take effect upon its approval. (Approved April 28, 1959.) H.B. 1051.
5
From a land of predators to "island paradise."
Chittal or Axis deer evolved to survive in balance with nine types of predators in their homelands of India, Sri Lanka and parts of China in South East Asia. They can run 40 miles per hour but are on every predator's menu there: lions, tigers, wolves, panthers, two species of wild dogs and a fox, even crocodiles, pythons and boa constrictors, and of course, people.
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Unlike human hunters, natural predators take any and all they can get.
These predators hunt differently than people do. They do not choose between males or females, young or old, and they hunt efficiently at night. Scroll through the images and you'll see they do not pick and choose or worry there 'won't be enough for the future' if they kill young or females.
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To keep up with natural predator-pressure, Axis deer evolved to breed early and often.
Female Axis deer can give birth to their first fawn when they are only six months old. Uncommon in most deer, they sometime give birth to twins. They can become pregnant again in just a few weeks after giving birth; and they are always in estrus. Males can produce sperm all year round. They may live ten or more years so each female can produce 10-15 fawns in her lifetime. Half of those fawns will be female, able to breed at six months old, expanding the chain-reaction exponentially.
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In their native lands, males are about 40% of all adults.
There is almost one male born for every female (1:1 sex ratio), but 48% of all fawns don't survive their first year and 33% of those survivors won't make it to their second year thanks to natural predators in the lands they came from. (Compare the number of antlers in the two photos.) In Hawai‘i, males may only be about 10%, females 90% and 94% of fawns reach breeding ages.
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Every time a Hawai‘i hunter takes a male for a trophy, the problem multiplies...
Generations of hunting habits have lead to skewed sex ratios and the high survivorship of both genders reaching breeding age in Hawai‘i, meaning Axis deer populations will always boom, and in drought years, bust. In other regions where Axis deer have been introduced, hunters are required to "earn a buck" by taking at least five juveniles and females before taking a mature male. Taking only what you can eat or saving the 'women and children' are outdated ethics when it comes to Axis deer.
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Choosing to "save a doe or fawn for the future" jepordizes water-security for everyone's future.
Each time a Maui or Moloka‘i hunter takes a buck, instead of "hunting like a predator," breeding populations become more skewed. Watch this short animation to see the breeding potential of one "Jane Doe's" lifetime in Hawai‘i where there are no natural predators.
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Helping hunters has always been a priority.
Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife manages about 20% of all Maui lands. 80,000 acres are designated as hunting lands. About half of those areas are surrounded by private lands and not currently accessible but DOFAW is working to add or gain access to another 20,000 acres. The remaining ~70% of Maui lands are private, and that's where most of the deer are. A resident hunting license for any game animal costs $20/year, and on Maui and Moloka‘i, you can hunt Axis deer any time of year (no season), as many as you want (no bag limit, no tags needed) in public hunting areas or on private lands with permission during daylight hours. To get started, go to: https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/recreation/hunting/
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2022 estimates showed as many as 60,000 Axis deer on Maui, most on private lands.
Even if private land-owners grant access, only 1.2% (about 2,000) people in Maui County have a hunting license to work on the problem. One Axis deer adult (100-200 pounds) yields about 40-50% of harvestable meat. If all who eat meat ate as much venison as beef (average beef consumption in the US hovers under 50 pounds per adult) we would still have a surplus! Conservationists, ranchers and land managers believe a 'sustainable' Axis deer population for Maui to be about 22,000. To reach that goal, 30% of the current deer population must be taken each year for 10 years, and 20% each year thereafter to maintain. Topography, breeding dynamics and biological math means Maui will never 'run out' of deer.
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Divide and control.
We now have the most accurate deer population estimates ever. Fences are the next step. Without fences, controlling a population of fast-moving animals would be like fighting a fire in a building without closed doors or windows. Once an area is fenced, each land manager is responsible for meeting the control-quota for their unit and the good of the island. Some land managers want deer and have worked them into their business models. No single agency or land manager can solve deer issues alone, but DOFAW continues to provide other managers with fence design and contracting advice, such as at the Kula Ag Park and Kahului Airport.
14
Control hunts provide relief.
Not all tools work for all lands, traditional hunting in and around private homes and city parks is not practical, or on a scale large enough to make a difference. Division of Forestry and Wildlife issues control hunting permits, can assist with control hunts on large private lands if requested and has purchased corrals that lure animals in to be controlled. Control hunts are necessary to reduce numbers of all ages and genders of deer, to mimic what predators would take in the deer's native lands.
15
Letting "nature take its course" is not an option anyone can live with.
Control hunts may seem extreme, but recent droughts have emphasized that letting deer populations grow until they meet the limits of the landscapes means a cruel fate for the deer and a bleak future for all. Starving deer first strip landscapes of anything green, then they move into small farms, subsistence gardens, spilling onto our roads and around our homes. Dying deer foul waterways and create health risks. DOFAW personnel assisted Moloka‘i landowners by digging burial sites during the mass die-offs in 2020 and 2021.
16
There's no such thing as "wasted meat" in nature.
Traditional cultures in the Pacific Northwest have long understood what science has now proven: animal carcasses (such as salmon) return nutrients to the environments that they grew from. Like most states, Hawai‘i uses only the USDA to set standards and monitor meat harvesting, storage, and distribution. To harvest more than we do now would require a substantial increase in Federal inspectors and processing facilities.
Not all individual deer or every pound of a deer are fit for human consumption for a variety of reasons. An Axis deer adult can weigh between 100-250 pounds, but on average, each yields about 40-50% of harvestable meat. Most recreational hunters butcher in the field and pack out only what they can carry or use over rough terrain, leaving the rest in the field. Some animals show obvious parasites in the field.
17
A paradise for introduced grazing animals but paradise lost for all natives.
Over 300 species of endangered Hawaiian plants and animals, many unique to Maui, evolved over millennia without grazers, so they rarely have thorns or poisons to protect themselves. Cows, goats, sheep, pigs and now deer eat native plants which generate and store freshwater, the same plants which also support native insects, snails and birds and sequester carbon. All grazers impact soils, trample seabird and owl nesting burrows, and strip understory vegetation. Male deer repeatedly damage mature trees by antler-rubbing against bark. Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death (ROD) is more prevalent when ungulates keep bark wounds open as seen on Hawa‘i Island.
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Axis deer on the land means less fish in the ocean.
When deer strip the land of all vegetation, the barren soils they create can't absorb rainfall, run-off creates mud slides and sediments choke streams and bury coral reefs in the ocean. Untold generations of Hawai‘i residents have relied on reefs for food, eating an average of 28.5 pounds per person annually, twice the US average. The famous fishponds of Moloka‘i, currently being destroyed by sedimentation, may have once supplied 600,000 pounds of fish annually. It takes zero gallons of freshwater to create a pound of seafood, but it takes 1,200 gallons to create one pound of venison.
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All land managers must help.
Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife and watershed partners have fenced ~30% of critical watersheds on Maui to protect freshwater production. Without each manager working on their kuleana, deer populations become an ever moving target and problem, spilling over onto small farms, private homes, gardens, public parks and roads. Maui agriculture lost an estimated $1 million in 2016 and 173 deer-related auto accidents were reported to the Maui Police Department in 2021.
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A sustainable resource is possible. We can learn from the past and change the future.
Large landowners must fence their properties and control numbers (all ages, both sexes of deer) inside their boundaries.
Hunters must respect fences, develop relationships with large land-owners and "hunt like a predator," taking any deer that crosses their path - "earning a buck" by taking five juveniles and or females before taking a mature male.
Large land owners and hunters alike must share accurate reports of what they take and where, so we can monitor and manage Axis deer populations. Together we can manage the deer to become a resource instead of a threat to island health.
References and papers published on Axis Deer:
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Balasubramaniam, S., C. Santiapillai and M.R. Chambers. 1980. Seasonal shifts in the pattern of habitat utilization by the spotted deer (Axis axis erxleben, 1777) in the Ruhuna National Park, Sri Lanka. Spixiana 3: 157-66.
Barrette, C. 1991. The size of axis deer fluid groups in Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka. Mammalia 55(2): 207-20.
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Chakrabarty, B. 1991. Habitat use by radio instrumented chital, sambar, and nilgai in Sariska Tiger Reserve. M.Sc. Diss. Saurashtra University, Rajkot, India.
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HB 151, ACT 10 of 1958, the last session for the Territorial Legislature, directed the Territorial Board of Agriculture and Forestry to introduce Axis deer to the island of Maui. Here it is: http://punawaiola.org/es6/index.html?path=/Collections/Laws/SessionLaws1959001.pdf
An Act Providing for the Establishment of Deer and Other Game Mammals on the Island of Maui. Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii:
SECTION 1. The board of agriculture and forestry shall establish deer and such other game mammals, as are found suitable, on the island of Maui.
SECTION 2. From and after the time when such deer and other game mammals have been established on the island of Maui, the board of agriculture and forestry shall establish rules and regulations to permit a resident or non-resident of the Territory to hunt deer and other game mammals on the island of Maui.
SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval. (Approved April 28, 1959.) H.B. 1051.