Deer herd management planning is required by legislation and policy in California, and is intended to achieve statewide goals of restoring and maintaining healthy deer while providing diversified use of the state's most abundant big game animal. A five step process was used to develop and evaluate management alternatives for the resident Santa Lucia herd in western Monterey County. Cooperation was obtained from major public land management agencies including the Los Padres National Forest and the U.S. Army, Fort Ord Complex in an effort to coordinate herd and habitat objectives. Results included identifying 4 subunits within the planning area and developing a range of biologically feasible alternatives for deer population size and habitat capacity. Compatible alternative harvest strategies for each potential population level were also developed. The approach and concepts described in this paper may be adapted to other deer management units to facilitate herd planning and produce realistic objectives which may guide, rather than react to land management programs.
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