Research from BYU wildlife sciences professors finds that when hunting season starts, elk in Utah move off of public lands — where they can be hunted — and onto private lands — where they cannot be hunted. And then, when hunting season is over, they shift right back to public lands.
So you don't have a problem with the study, you only think this is selective pressure eliciting an evolutionary response rather than a behavioral response to repeated human behavior. Either way, the study shows that a significant number of elk are likely to be somewhere other than public lands during hunting season.
there are multiple hunting seasons year after year
i assume the elk that coincidently moved to private land lived, their offspring did the same and so on
You are describing learning. That’s not survivorship bias of the study, that’s the species adapting
So you don't have a problem with the study, you only think this is selective pressure eliciting an evolutionary response rather than a behavioral response to repeated human behavior. Either way, the study shows that a significant number of elk are likely to be somewhere other than public lands during hunting season.