Basic Herd Management

Before we can get into "how" it works, it is important we have a basic understanding of "fitness" or genes - and what a "herd" is actually referencing.

**Fitness** = The "genes" of the animal. The higher the fitness of any given animal, the higher it will score and at the peak can cap out as a 500 point 5 Star Animal. Fitness is leveraged in multiple ways. 1 - The individual animals fitness will determine it's overall potential score as it ages. 2 - A herds average fitness is averaged and impacts the fitness of new spawns. 3 - An entire habitats fitness is also averaged and weighted into the fitness of new spawns. The higher the average fitness, the better your chances are at "growing" a high fitness male turning into a 5 Star trophy.

**Herd** = The small POD of animals with six need zones (for clarity I will use POD to indicate that in my description). Primary impact for managing is on that pod of animals.

Lets assume you found a herd of Whitetail Deer. 7 deer, 3 males 4 females. Assume the males have fitness scores of 60-70-80 % = currently a 70% average. If you take out the 60% your "average" is now 75% and the generation of new male is based off that average (on a bell curve so could go up, or down) but will START now at \*75%. FOR THAT POD. \*read below for more details on the 75%, as it is not exactly 75%.

There is an overall impact from the entire habitat as well, and is part of the calculation for the spawn. Again, from the entire Habitat, not the whole map. ALL zones with that habitat are impacted. So let's say you are hunting in a highland forest (Haliwitch, White Pine Orchard, Thorn Springs, Cascade Forest) That entire habitat IS impacted. But it is small and would take a significant amount of time before you can effectively change the overall genetic average for animals with large numbers (Deer for example) BUT it is calculated as well during the spawning process; and caps what the maximum fitness can be. So that 75% for the pod will be impacted by the overall habitat average - so it could easily be moved down a little. That final average fitness will be your new spawns fitness rating, again adjusted randomly afterwards on a bell curve.

Fitness caps are in place for secondary habitats. This cap also precludes any animals from scoring a perfect 500 from that zone. The mechanics behind it are not perfectly clear yet, but should largely be driven by the cap. 5 Star animals are certainly attainable in secondary habitats.

The key here is - you are primarily managing "PODS" of animals - but all areas with the same habitat are influencing it and being influenced BY you and what you kill.

**Low population animals**: Bear, Badger, Fox for example. For these, where they have significantly lower numbers - the impact is much more significant from the entire habitat. "For those animals with low population, maybe it's more useful to think of their entire habitat as a herd." ~Michal (NRG). So for those animals, we can still manage them, we just need to look at all zones with the same habitat vs individual "pods" or herds of predators (and likely Moose).

Lastly -- How exactly does the "Private Lands" manage better animals on average. "The mean fitness is moved to the right on the scale so it's more likely to produce high fitness animals". This is KEY... "more likely to produce high fitness animals". Remember I said Bell Curve earlier --- that's what he (Michal (NRG)) is talking about so the average may be 60% and the spawn could go up or down from there... before the spawn that number gets improved in private lands meaning you WILL always get a better opportunity for higher fitness males in ANY private land. Given that is how private lands work I think we can effectively extrapolate how all zones work. Secondary locations for a herd will have the lowest potential before spawn, Primary will be better, Private lands with Primary habitat will be the BEST POTENTIAL of all. (Not sure where Private, but secondary habitats fall in exactly - but they are in the middle.) Key point is it is all based on that fitness average, and limited by "Secondary Habitat" caps.