State of Hawaiʻi seeking landowners in Maui County to harvest non-indigenous Axis deer

To help curb axis deer populations in Maui County, the Hawaiʻi State Division of Forestry and Wildlife is launching a program that will incentive eligible private landowners and lessees to harvest the non-indigenous animals.

The 2024 Axis Deer Control Landowner Incentive Program for Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi will be conducted through a competitive Request for Proposals.

Contracts will run for a 12-month period, approximately Feb. 1, 2024 through Feb. 1, 2025, with the possibility of a one-year extension. Landowners in the program will receive a $25 to $50 per deer reimbursement throughout the life of the contract, pursuant to the detailed fee schedule.

Since Axis deer were introduced to Maui County decades ago, their populations on the three islands have steadily increased — and so have their negative impacts to natural resources, public safety and economic interests.

The rapid population increases have posed significant challenges to landowners and land managers seeking to employ control measures to subdue the population and mitigate impacts.

In recent years, dramatic increases in harvest rates have helped to reduce these impacts. The Landowner Incentive Program seeks to continue that trend.

Current control measures include fencing, public hunting, wildlife and game harvest permits, and landowner control efforts. The new program will supplement these approaches.

The state recently released a Request for Proposals to private landowners for this program and hopes to continue to raise interest and reach more eligible parties to participate. Multiple awards will be made under this RFP.

All axis deer harvest/control must abide by all applicable laws including Hawai‘i Administrative Rules Chapter 123, Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting.

The deadline to submit proposals is Jan. 17, 2024 at 4 p.m.

Proposals will be selected on a competitive basis from available funds. Ranking criteria will include the number of axis deer to be harvested and impacts to overall population control goals.

Full details of this RFP, including scope of work, proposal format, special provisions, and other information is at: https://hands.ehawaii.gov/hands/api/opportunity-attachment?id=23670&attachmentId=39660.