Conducting Deer Surveys Live Webinar

The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the National Deer Association (NDA) invite landowners and others interested in managing deer on their properties to join a free, live webinar via Zoom on conducting deer surveys on Tuesday, May 30, at 6 p.m. MDC and NDA staff will discuss how to conduct deer population surveys and record deer population data on private property. Attendees will learn how to conduct camera surveys, collect observation data, and maintain harvest records to determine deer abundance, assess herd health, and learn about deer biology and behavior.

Save this link and click on it May 30 at 6 p.m. to join the free, live webinar on conducting deer surveys: us06web.zoom.us/j/83130071914#success. For those who have not used Zoom on their selected device, click the link ahead of time and follow the prompts to install the free Zoom software.

MDC and NDA will also offer additional free, live Zoom webinars on deer and deer management in the future as part of MDC’s Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP). All are welcome to participate, even if not enrolled in DMAP. Save these links and click on them at the time to join the free, live webinars:

• Deer Aging Techniques on July 25 at 6 p.m. at zoom.us/j/87530565870#success
• Using Data to Inform Deer Management on Sept 12 at 6 p.m. at zoom.us/j/81780816373#success

MDC and NDA previously presented a Zoom webinar on wildlife cooperatives, what they are, and how they can be beneficial for wildlife and habitat management on private property. The free webinar also included first-hand accounts of landowner experiences with wildlife cooperatives. Watch a recording of the webinar at youtu.be/1LDlOvpuMJ4.

MDC’s free Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) can help landowners manage deer on their properties by allowing them and hunters they designate to buy additional firearms permits to take antlerless deer on the properties above and beyond regular-season harvest limits. DMAP also provides landowners with science-based methods and information to address a spectrum of other local deer-management goals, including Quality Deer Management (QDM) objectives.

“For some landowners, deer cause crop damage and other problems, even with deer removals through regular hunting seasons and damage authorizations,” said MDC Deer Biologist Kevyn Wiskirchen, who coordinates DMAP. “And some landowners need additional tools for achieving their deer-management goals for their properties. The program’s main goal is to maintain healthy deer populations while balancing landowner needs.”

Wiskirchen added that any private property of at least 500 acres located outside of municipal boundaries, regardless of the owner’s legal residence, is eligible for the program. For properties inside the boundaries of a city or town, at least 40 acres are required. Individual parcels of land, regardless of ownership, may be combined to satisfy the acreage requirements as long as no parcel of land is more than a half-mile (by air) from the boundary of another parcel being combined to form an enrolled DMAP property.

To learn more about DMAP, visit MDC online at mdc.mo.gov/dmap, or contact your local MDC private land conservationist or conservation agent.