Conflicts arising from the consumption of anthropogenic foods by
wildlife are increasing worldwide. Conventional tools for evaluating the
spatial distribution pattern of large terrestrial mammals that consume
anthropogenic foods have various limitations, despite their importance
in management to mitigate conflicts. In this study, we examined the
spatial distribution pattern of crop-foraging sika deer by performing
nitrogen stable isotope analyses of bone collagen. We evaluated whether
crop-foraging deer lived closer to agricultural crop fields during the
winter and spring, when crop production decreases. We found that female
deer in proximity to agricultural crop fields during the winter and
spring were more likely to be crop-foraging individuals. Furthermore,
the likelihood of crop consumption by females decreased by half as the
distance to agricultural crop fields increased to 10 km and fell to
essentially zero at a distance of approximately 40 km. We did not detect
a significant trend in the spatial distribution of crop-foraging male
deer. The findings of spatial distribution patterns of crop-foraging
female deer will be useful for the establishment of management areas,
such as zonation, for efficient removal of them.