QDM co-op's boost deer hunter satisfaction

[Mojostick]

Quality Deer Management Coop Participation Boosts Satisfaction

Deer hunters participating in Quality Deer Management cooperatives enjoy nearly twice the level of hunting satisfaction as other deer hunters, according to new research from Michigan State University that appears in an upcoming issue of Quality Deer Management Association's Quality Whitetails magazine.

Graduate student Anna Mitterling surveyed 350 members of 16 different QDM Cooperatives covering 90,000 acres in south central Michigan for her master's thesis in Fisheries and Wildlife.

She found satisfaction levels among the hunters increased from 45 percent before to 75 percent after they became involved in a QDM cooperative.

That's much higher than the 46 percent satisfaction rate among all Michigan deer hunters measured by Michigan DNR around the same time.

QDM cooperatives are formed by hunters on neighboring lands who voluntarily agree to pursue similar deer herd management goals, giving the larger group the ability to achieve improvements in deer hunting that could not be accomplished independently.

Agreements between hunters usually address selective buck harvest and doe harvest goals intended to balance buck:doe ratios and protect yearling bucks so they survive to older age classes.

While Mitterling found that QDM cooperatives made great improvements in these aspects of deer hunting, it was the enhanced social communication that made it possible.

"I witnessed many benefits for members of QDM Cooperatives, but the social interactions, camaraderie, sharing of hunting stories and discussions were of greatest note to me," said Mitterling. "The deer management changes that occurred were made possible because of the social interactions occurring within these groups."

In 2010 and 2011, the years Mitterling studied the 16 cooperatives, less than 15 percent of the antlered bucks killed by participating hunters were yearlings; that figure was 57 to 59 percent in the statewide buck harvest during the same time period.

As for doe harvest, QDM cooperative members killed more than 2.2 does for every buck taken in 2010 and 2011. Statewide, Michigan hunters took slightly more antlered bucks than antlerless deer in those years.

QDMA is aware of at least 50 active QDM cooperatives in Michigan alone, and the organization has placed a priority on supporting and creating cooperatives nationally.