25 July 2019 Public Input…

25 July 2019

Public Input Coordinator
Species Conservation Policy Branch - Wildlife Section
300 Water Street, 5th Floor, North tower
Peterborough, ON K9J 3C7

Dear Public Input Coordinator,

On behalf of the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) I am writing to provide input on the Ministry’s White-tailed Deer Population Objective Setting and Harvest Management Guidelines. The QDMA is an international nonprofit wildlife conservation organization dedicated to ensuring the future of white-tailed deer, wildlife habitat and our hunting heritage. The QDMA has over 55,000 members, and our membership includes hunters, landowners and natural resource professionals.

We applaud the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) for completing these draft guidelines and appreciate the opportunity to comment on their details. We support a scientific goal to monitor, predict, and evaluate impacts at the management unit scale with scientifically valid protocols. A healthy deer herd is the ultimate goal of this plan, and every effort should be made to measure, monitor and manage for this. Having healthy deer requires healthy habitat and a demographically appropriate annual harvest.

Deer Population Objectives
We support Objective 1 to Identify Ecological Considerations, Objective 2 regarding Socio-economic and Cultural Considerations, and Objective 3 on Setting Population Objectives. We especially like your approach to deer population objectives using indices and not absolute deer density, and your statement about deer population objective ranges being reviewed and refined periodically as new or improved ecological or socio-economic information becomes available.

Deer Harvest Management
The QDMA is a big advocate of engaging the public at the highest possible level. This creates support for ministry programs and fosters a strong working relationship. Public attitudes are especially important to understanding the cultural carrying capacity for deer.

We support making decisions using objective, transparent, and data-driven processes. This will build public trust and understanding of Ontario’s deer management program, and those are necessary for public support and plan success. We appreciate your comments regarding the importance of communication to the public.

We support Objective 1 on Harvest Considerations. The nine bullet items listed are all key to developing appropriate harvest guidelines. We support Objective 2 on Harvest Management Strategies. We’re especially pleased with the acknowledgement that deer management strategies have to be supported by the public. We question why archery equipment is now allowed during most controlled deer hunt seasons, and we would support their use during all seasons. We support Objective 3 on Setting Deer Tag Quotas, and are especially pleased your proposed objective range is index rather than density based. We also support Objective 4 on Quota Setting Best Practices.

Finally, we applaud your creation of the deer quota response decision tree. This diagram adds transparency to your management program and is extremely helpful for the public.

In addition to these goals we encourage you to add a specific goal relative to habitat health. An actual goal for healthy habitat is necessary to set the sideboards for other goals such as deer density or acceptable impacts or deer-human conflicts.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this plan and for your commitment to Ontario’s natural resources. Please contact me if I can provide any additional information.

Respectfully,

Kip Adams
Director of Conservation