Quality deer management coming to Michigan, aiming to improve the herd
10-08-2009, 03:42 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Saginaw & Houghton Lake, Michigan USA
Posts: 249
Quality deer management coming to Michigan, aiming to improve the herd
http://detnews.com/article/20091008/...prove-the-herd
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Dave Spratt / Special to The Detroit News
If you're a Michigan deer hunter, you've most likely heard of Quality Deer Management (QDM) or the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA).
If you haven't, you might want to crawl out from under your rock and get caught up. Because QDM, a sometimes misunderstood practice for shaping deer herds, is about to enter Michigan's official lexicon.
Michigan will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the QDMA. It's not much more than an agreement to agree. But it's an official recognition that our herd is way out of whack, that past deer-management practices need changing, that Michigan game officials want a healthier, smaller and better-balanced deer herd, and that the state is willing to work with QDMA to achieve those things.
"It focuses on the things that we share in common," said John Niewoonder, Michigan's acting Big Game Specialist. "Things like using sound science to manage the appropriate harvest of antlerless deer. It certainly doesn't go down the road of antler-point restrictions or any of that stuff that (QDMA) sometimes are associated with."
To understand what QDM is, it's important to understand what it is not. It is not Monster Buck Management, even though the end result is that bigger bucks walk the landscape. In its simplest form, QDM means shooting plenty of does and not shooting yearling bucks -- so they live to grow older. When properly applied, QDM results in a smaller deer population that has plenty to eat and behaves more naturally. It does have the fawns.
Dominant bucks sire them. They're born at the right time of year.
The guy in the deer blind may see fewer deer overall, but he's also a lot more likely to see the wall-hanger buck of his dreams.
Russ Mason, the chief of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division, is in Ontonagon today to explain to the Natural Resources Commission -- which sets game policies -- why QDM is right for Michigan.
"Whether it's habitat management, balancing herds with the available habitat, reducing the number of does in a herd to synchronize the rut and promoting other things that are favorable," Mason said. "Yeah, we believe in all those things."
Mason, who has been Michigan's wildlife chief for a little over a year, said he sees the QDMA's role as educating Michigan hunters on the value of QDM so they ultimately join the fold by choice. In other words, don't expect mandatory QDM-based rules any time soon. Mason said states that tried to force-feed QDM to hunters have had little success.
"We could go down the QDM path, and it's entirely possible that we will," he said. "I would prefer it be hunters choosing this path if they want to. Our strongest suit is when we're not regulators. And I'm not sure mandating things is where people want to go."
Quality Deer Management has steadily gained traction among Michigan hunters and landowners over the past few years. The QDMA has a state chapter with 17 different branches across Michigan and hundreds of small QDM co-ops where neighbors pool their land together, set mutually agreeable rules and follow them.
"That definitely is occurring in many places throughout the state, where deer management co-ops are forming," Niewoonder said. "There are many of them. Some are small and some are quite large. It's a grassroots deal where neighbors are talking to neighbors. It definitely is a growing thing at a grass-roots level."
Michigan already has taken some steps toward QDM practices, including allowing more than 20 deer-management units to try various antler-point restrictions on an experimental basis earlier this decade. Leaders of the Leelanau County QDM unit, one of five remaining, are so pleased with the result they want to expand into Benzie and Grand Traverse counties. A moratorium on adding QDM units ended in April 2008, and Mason said some members of the NRC seem amenable to expanding QDM areas.
That's not all. Last year, Michigan started an early antlerless season that began in September 2008 and continued this year, and the antler-restriction option that started for Upper Peninsula deer hunters last year. In the U.P., hunters can choose a single tag for any buck, or two tags for bucks with more antler points. That allows QDM supporters and opponents a chance to hunt deer the way they please.
"It's pretty neat how they have that where you have a one-buck tag or a two-buck tag," said Kip Adams, the QDMA's director of education and outreach for the northern United States. "I think that's a pretty unique way to please both ends of the hunters and to protect the young deer and have a better deer herd."
According to QDMA, Michigan hunters typically rank right at the top of all 50 states for the number of yearling bucks killed. In 2005, the last year for which there are national statistics, Michigan hunters killed the second-highest number of bucks, 63 percent of which were yearlings.
That's the exact practice QDM principles oppose. And more recently, Michigan hunters seem to be hearing the message. Last year, Michigan's antlerless harvest went up 12 percent, at the same time its buck harvest went down 7 percent.
But there's still one very important reality facing Michigan's game managers. The shoot-a-buck, pass-on-a-doe mentality that grew Michigan's deer herd for so many years is deeply ingrained in many Michigan hunters. Mason knows that isn't going away soon, but he figures you might as well start somewhere.
"To use too broad a sociological brush, we spent 120 years telling people they shouldn't shoot does," he said. "Now we tell people, 'Wait a minute. If you see a doe, shoot it, and if it has a fawn, shoot that too.' It's going to be a gradual thing, an erosion of the former truth for the present truth. But I'm pleased to see the doe harvest is going up, if for no other reason than they taste better."
Dave Spratt is a freelance writer and editor of http://www.greatnorthernoutdoors.net. You can reach him at [email protected].
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Dave Spratt / Special to The Detroit News
If you're a Michigan deer hunter, you've most likely heard of Quality Deer Management (QDM) or the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA).
If you haven't, you might want to crawl out from under your rock and get caught up. Because QDM, a sometimes misunderstood practice for shaping deer herds, is about to enter Michigan's official lexicon.
Michigan will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the QDMA. It's not much more than an agreement to agree. But it's an official recognition that our herd is way out of whack, that past deer-management practices need changing, that Michigan game officials want a healthier, smaller and better-balanced deer herd, and that the state is willing to work with QDMA to achieve those things.
"It focuses on the things that we share in common," said John Niewoonder, Michigan's acting Big Game Specialist. "Things like using sound science to manage the appropriate harvest of antlerless deer. It certainly doesn't go down the road of antler-point restrictions or any of that stuff that (QDMA) sometimes are associated with."
To understand what QDM is, it's important to understand what it is not. It is not Monster Buck Management, even though the end result is that bigger bucks walk the landscape. In its simplest form, QDM means shooting plenty of does and not shooting yearling bucks -- so they live to grow older. When properly applied, QDM results in a smaller deer population that has plenty to eat and behaves more naturally. It does have the fawns.
Dominant bucks sire them. They're born at the right time of year.
The guy in the deer blind may see fewer deer overall, but he's also a lot more likely to see the wall-hanger buck of his dreams.
Russ Mason, the chief of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division, is in Ontonagon today to explain to the Natural Resources Commission -- which sets game policies -- why QDM is right for Michigan.
"Whether it's habitat management, balancing herds with the available habitat, reducing the number of does in a herd to synchronize the rut and promoting other things that are favorable," Mason said. "Yeah, we believe in all those things."
Mason, who has been Michigan's wildlife chief for a little over a year, said he sees the QDMA's role as educating Michigan hunters on the value of QDM so they ultimately join the fold by choice. In other words, don't expect mandatory QDM-based rules any time soon. Mason said states that tried to force-feed QDM to hunters have had little success.
"We could go down the QDM path, and it's entirely possible that we will," he said. "I would prefer it be hunters choosing this path if they want to. Our strongest suit is when we're not regulators. And I'm not sure mandating things is where people want to go."
Quality Deer Management has steadily gained traction among Michigan hunters and landowners over the past few years. The QDMA has a state chapter with 17 different branches across Michigan and hundreds of small QDM co-ops where neighbors pool their land together, set mutually agreeable rules and follow them.
"That definitely is occurring in many places throughout the state, where deer management co-ops are forming," Niewoonder said. "There are many of them. Some are small and some are quite large. It's a grassroots deal where neighbors are talking to neighbors. It definitely is a growing thing at a grass-roots level."
Michigan already has taken some steps toward QDM practices, including allowing more than 20 deer-management units to try various antler-point restrictions on an experimental basis earlier this decade. Leaders of the Leelanau County QDM unit, one of five remaining, are so pleased with the result they want to expand into Benzie and Grand Traverse counties. A moratorium on adding QDM units ended in April 2008, and Mason said some members of the NRC seem amenable to expanding QDM areas.
That's not all. Last year, Michigan started an early antlerless season that began in September 2008 and continued this year, and the antler-restriction option that started for Upper Peninsula deer hunters last year. In the U.P., hunters can choose a single tag for any buck, or two tags for bucks with more antler points. That allows QDM supporters and opponents a chance to hunt deer the way they please.
"It's pretty neat how they have that where you have a one-buck tag or a two-buck tag," said Kip Adams, the QDMA's director of education and outreach for the northern United States. "I think that's a pretty unique way to please both ends of the hunters and to protect the young deer and have a better deer herd."
According to QDMA, Michigan hunters typically rank right at the top of all 50 states for the number of yearling bucks killed. In 2005, the last year for which there are national statistics, Michigan hunters killed the second-highest number of bucks, 63 percent of which were yearlings.
That's the exact practice QDM principles oppose. And more recently, Michigan hunters seem to be hearing the message. Last year, Michigan's antlerless harvest went up 12 percent, at the same time its buck harvest went down 7 percent.
But there's still one very important reality facing Michigan's game managers. The shoot-a-buck, pass-on-a-doe mentality that grew Michigan's deer herd for so many years is deeply ingrained in many Michigan hunters. Mason knows that isn't going away soon, but he figures you might as well start somewhere.
"To use too broad a sociological brush, we spent 120 years telling people they shouldn't shoot does," he said. "Now we tell people, 'Wait a minute. If you see a doe, shoot it, and if it has a fawn, shoot that too.' It's going to be a gradual thing, an erosion of the former truth for the present truth. But I'm pleased to see the doe harvest is going up, if for no other reason than they taste better."
Dave Spratt is a freelance writer and editor of http://www.greatnorthernoutdoors.net. You can reach him at [email protected].
10-09-2009, 05:51 AM
#3
Fork Horn
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Mid-Michigan
Posts: 192
Michigan will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the QDMA. It's not much more than an agreement to agree. But it's an official recognition that our herd is way out of whack, that past deer-management practices need changing, that Michigan game officials want a healthier, smaller and better-balanced deer herd, and that the state is willing to work with QDMA to achieve those things...
Mason, who has been Michigan's wildlife chief for a little over a year, said he sees the QDMA's role as educating Michigan hunters on the value of QDM so they ultimately join the fold by choice. In other words, don't expect mandatory QDM-based rules any time soon. Mason said states that tried to force-feed QDM to hunters have had little success...
Mason, who has been Michigan's wildlife chief for a little over a year, said he sees the QDMA's role as educating Michigan hunters on the value of QDM so they ultimately join the fold by choice. In other words, don't expect mandatory QDM-based rules any time soon. Mason said states that tried to force-feed QDM to hunters have had little success...
10-14-2009, 07:53 AM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: N/W WI.
Posts: 814
Hunters don't need the state or QDMA to get a Quality deer herd. It's real simple, let the little bucks grow to be big bucks and shoot does to maintain a good balance. In Bufflo county WI Farmers and land owners have been doing this for many years and it has paid off. I feel less government is the best way to go about it.
10-15-2009, 04:30 AM
#5
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Jackson, Michigan
Posts: 381
I would beg to differ with the previous post. As the article points out, we here in Michigan have had a mentality of only shooting does as a way to increase our deer herd. And for a long period when our herd was concentrated in the upper half of Michigan, in a way that made sense since the herd was not all that large and many hunters would go an entire season without even seeing a deer.
Today in the southern part of the state the herd is out of control. On my own property, right now during bow season, I am seeing 4 yearling bucks (all have been under my stand at 15 yards) and one 2 1/2 year old 8pt and about 50 does and fawns. I think to anyone, you could say the herd is out of balance. It is unhealthy for the herd as well as the land's carrying capacity and the farmer whose crops are being decimated. Surrounding land owners exercise their legal right to harvest what they choose and right now it is exclusively bucks...any buck. And this scenario is being repeated over and over again across our county. I believe educating hunters about the benefits of a balanced herd is important. It isn't about trophy antlers, it is about a healthy, balanced herd that the land can support.
It will take time to get people to realize the benefits and the only way to start is through education. QDMA has been doing this with some success, but I believe an endorsement and education program from the state will go a long ways to get more people to buy into the concept.
Today in the southern part of the state the herd is out of control. On my own property, right now during bow season, I am seeing 4 yearling bucks (all have been under my stand at 15 yards) and one 2 1/2 year old 8pt and about 50 does and fawns. I think to anyone, you could say the herd is out of balance. It is unhealthy for the herd as well as the land's carrying capacity and the farmer whose crops are being decimated. Surrounding land owners exercise their legal right to harvest what they choose and right now it is exclusively bucks...any buck. And this scenario is being repeated over and over again across our county. I believe educating hunters about the benefits of a balanced herd is important. It isn't about trophy antlers, it is about a healthy, balanced herd that the land can support.
It will take time to get people to realize the benefits and the only way to start is through education. QDMA has been doing this with some success, but I believe an endorsement and education program from the state will go a long ways to get more people to buy into the concept.
10-15-2009, 11:27 AM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: May 2005
Location:
Posts: 2,241
Doesn't matter what QDMA tries to put infect they will never get the hunters in Michigan to change the gun season and as long as we have 750,000 gun hunters hitting the woods for two full weeks during the rut Michigan's hunting will suck. They would have to get the state to change the season to give the gunners there days but do it like Illinois or Iowa where you break it up into 3 day seasons and give the deer a break for a week or two and not just slam them for 2 straight weeks and that will never happen!! Walt
10-15-2009, 11:53 AM
#7
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Barron county Wi
Posts: 169
Your season being in the rut does suck, but nobody is making you guys shoot small bucks, and does. Whether it is mandated or not mrmc is right that if you don't shoot small bucks they will grow to bigger bucks. I know I am probably coming across like a smart alec but its pretty hard for a fork horn or spike to get bigger hanging on the meat pole!!!
10-17-2009, 08:11 PM
#8
Fork Horn
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: GR Michigan
Posts: 204
I know I am probably coming across like a smart alec but its pretty hard for a fork horn or spike to get bigger hanging on the meat pole!!!
10-18-2009, 08:32 AM
#9
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: N/W WI.
Posts: 814
Last edited by mr.mc54; 10-19-2009 at 02:51 PM.
10-18-2009, 08:45 AM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location:
Posts: 1,408
You don't pass on a forkhorn because a) you have two buck tags so why should you, and b) there is no better than a 5% chance he will see the New Year. Consequently, there's about a 5% chance you'll see anything bigger than 6 points though you'll pass on 100+ does trying if you hunt enough.
The steps here are easy:
1) Eliminate the second buck tag. People can still shoot whatever buck THEY think is a trophy -- be it a forkhorn or 160-class. But it forces them to be picky. Right now, most people will drop the first legal buck they see before actually waiting and being picky as the 2nd one needs 4+ pts on a side.
2) Earn-a-buck (I hear the blood pressure of all WI hunters rise). You will never change the mentality of a generation of hunters trained not to shoot does. The last time I hunted MI I talked to every hunter on the square mile I was hunting, I was the only one willing to shoot does though some of the others bought doe tags just to keep another hunter from getting it and actually using it!! Force them to shoot a doe.
Combine #1 and #2 above, you get more does being taken and fewer yearling bucks being taken. And you do it without forcing someone else's idea of a trophy on a hunter.
I live in Indiana and the difference is dramatic. Only one buck tag; people are VERY picky about what they shoot and what I do see in the back of trucks is seldom yearlings. In two seasons here I have shot two bucks each bigger than my biggest MI buck. People also have no issues taking does, maybe not opening morning but everyone I know wants to shoot 1-2. And the does are managed on the county level, a proficient hunter with permission in multiple counties can help manage herds all over the state.
I remember the last year I hunted MI, I had been shooting 6-7 does every year by buying permits early but then they limited it to 3 per hunter. They said a few proficient hunters were taking too many permits. Well, isn't that exactly what was needed, people to actually FILL those tags???