The best evaluation of deer density can be achieved by accurate drive counts of deer performed in all the suitable wooded patches of the area of interest. This would provide the true density within drive areas which, in turn, should be akin to the true density within the study area. Because the drive of all these areas is prohibitive, only a subset is usually driven. Results are highly dependent on the subjective choice of the areas. In the present study, an objective design-based approach is considered to select the areas to be driven according to some probabilistic sampling schemes, and deer density in the whole collection of drive areas is estimated by means of some criteria. The schemes should be able to achieve samples of areas evenly spread onto the study region. The criteria should be able to exploit the information provided by the area sizes. Four sampling strategies are considered, together with methods to estimate their precision. They are evaluated by means of a simulation study performed on artificial and real populations. Results from artificial populations determine the best strategies to be used. Results from real populations show that precise estimates are achieved at the cost of sampling 20% of the drive areas. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear on-line.

中文翻译：

---

通过驱动计数估计鹿密度的抽样策略

鹿密度的最佳评估可以通过在感兴趣区域的所有合适的树木繁茂的斑块中进行的鹿的准确驱赶计数来实现。这将提供驱动区域内的真实密度，而后者应该类似于研究区域内的真实密度。因为所有这些区域的驱动都是禁止的，所以通常只驱动一个子集。结果高度依赖于区域的主观选择。在本研究中，考虑了一种基于客观设计的方法，根据一些概率抽样方案选择要驱动的区域，并通过一些标准来估计整个驱动区域集合中的鹿密度。该方案应该能够实现均匀分布在研究区域上的区域样本。该标准应该能够利用区域大小提供的信息。考虑了四种采样策略，以及估计其精度的方法。它们通过对人工和真实种群进行的模拟研究进行评估。人工种群的结果决定了要使用的最佳策略。来自真实人群的结果表明，以对 20% 的驱动区域进行采样为代价实现了精确估计。本文随附的补充材料已在线发布。来自真实人群的结果表明，以对 20% 的驱动区域进行采样为代价实现了精确估计。本文随附的补充材料已在线发布。来自真实人群的结果表明，以对 20% 的驱动区域进行采样为代价实现了精确估计。本文随附的补充材料已在线发布。