Game damage to forest stands in the Moravskoslezské Beskydy Mts. and ecological factors which influence them

During the years 2005 and 2007 an evaluation of damages, caused by browsing and bark peeling of the game on forest stands, was carried out in the Moravskoslezské Beskydy Mts. Available forestry and game management files from the year 1992-2005 were also evaluated.
The results are as followed: after the winter 2004/2005 when the snow lasted for 113 days with the maximum height of 115 cm, there was 5.5-6.0 head of roe deer and 0.6 head of red deer per km2 of forest. The most damaged tree species were deciduous Salix aurita L. - 85.9 % or Quercus robur L. - 78.3 % and coniferous Abies alba Mill. - 25.6 %. The total winter damage of trees, caused by browsing, was 9%. That time and after recalculation 6 head of red deer damaged 324 stems of Picea abies (L.) per 1000 ha of forest by bark peeling. In 1999-2005 about 50 % less forest stands were damaged by bark stripping than in 1992-1998. Proportion of spruce stands damaged by bark stripping reached 2 % from their surface every year. Quantity of bark stripped trees depended on the amount of hunted red deer (r = 0.9352, R2 = 0.8747, P = 0.0001, α = 0.05).
The intensity of browsing statistically significantly declined (P = 0.0291) with the growing altitude and was higher in beech than in fir-beech altitudinal zone (P = 0.0211). Browsing was different in summer and in winter period (P = 0.0005) and between the years 2005 and 2007 with the different snow cover height (P = 0.0001). Natural regeneration was damaged less than artificial stands (P = 0.0124) and broadleaf trees were more damaged than coniferous trees (P = 0.0001). Browsing of beech trees was different in natural regeneration with low and high distribution of the beech (P = 0.0481) and browsing was higher on the clear-cuts with more solarization (9 %) than on the shadowed plots (2 %), but not statistically significant. The browsing intensity grew up from poor (1 %) to enriched soil sites with nitrogen (8%), but was not statistically significant.
After winter in 2006/2007 when snow lasted for 59 days with the maximum height of 49 cm, there were 3.0-3.5 head of roe deer and 0.6 head of red deer per km2 of forest. The total winter damage by browsing was only 0.5 %. From the results and according to degree of tree damage and for local conditions we suppose that game stock with 6 head of roe deer and 1 head of red deer on km2 of forest area is on the border of carrying-capacity.