Reply to I. Mysterud, J. T. Warren and L. J. Asheim

The authors make a number of claims with which, in a sense, I would not argue. I find no actual disagreement in theCommentregarding the methodology used and calculations made in my paper, but rather a suggestion for widening the scope of my study. I would particularly like to stress one paragraph in my Conclusions and discussion section: “The conclusions of this paper cannot be considered definitive, because there is some uncertainty in the underlying data. The most important factors contributing to this uncertainty are the crude estimates of predator and reindeer populations as well as possible errors in the data on compensation.” The data I have used are the best available. The authors emphasize several factors that I could not explicitly consider in the analysis, due to lack of data. Accordingly, it seems to me that the debate revolves around the scope of my analysis and how itcouldhave been carried out, given more and better data. The following contains some more specific comments on the individual topics included in theComment.