QUALITY DEER MANAGEMENT…

     QUALITY DEER MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

 P.O. Box 160 • 170 Whitetail Way • Bogart, GA  30622

 PHONE: 800.209.3337 • FAX: 706.353.0223 • www.QDMA.com

   To: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry

 From: Rob Argue, Canada Director of Operations and Outreach,

 Kip Adams, Director of Education and Outreach

 Date:10 November 2016

 Re:Management Plan Comments

  On behalf of the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) and QDMA Canada, we are writing to provide input on the Building a Wildlife Management Strategy for Ontario discussion paper released in August 2016.  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 60,000 members, and our membership includes hunters, landowners and natural resource professionals.

  We compliment the Ministry on creating this management plan.  The QDMA is a big advocate of having such a plan, and we are currently working with states in the U.S. to create similar ones.  As of 2014 at least 18 states had established deer management plans while only one province (Quebec) had a similar plan.  We are encouraged by the Ministry’s actions and hope other provinces follow your lead in the near future.

  We support the plan’s purpose statement to improve the conservation and management of Ontario’s wildlife; and to promote, facilitate and encourage activities related to wildlife that contribute to the social, cultural and economic well being of individuals and communities.  We especially appreciate the statement regarding “encouraging” activities relating to wildlife as a strong base of hunters provides increased revenue and support for wildlife management programs throughout the province.

  We support the plan’s goals to have (1) sustainable wildlife populations; (2) an effective and efficient wildlife management program; (3) wildlife policy informed by science; and (4) informed and engaged stakeholders.  We also support the plan’s guiding principles to (1) manage at appropriate scales; (2) integrate and coordinate other partners and stakeholders; (3) manage and mitigate risk; (4) facilitate adaptive management; (5) recognize the interests and contributions of hunters and trappers; and (6) recognize Aboriginal rights.  We are especially pleased to see principle #5 as a good partnership between the Ministry and hunters will help enhance the wildlife management program.

  We recognize this plan covers all wildlife species and not just white-tailed deer, but within the deer management portion we encourage the Ministry to add a goal(s) to “Maintain a balanced adult sex ratio and a balanced age structure for males and females.”  A healthy deer herd involves appropriate sex and age components, as well as size relative to the habitat.  A deer herd can be managed at a level to not negatively impact the habitat or other wildlife species, but still contain skewed adult sex ratios and poor age structures.  Such a population should not satisfy the requirements for a healthy herd.  A deer herd goal(s) of establishing biologically appropriate demographics for the population would complement the population level/size goal nicely.  An example could be found in the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s 2006-2015 Big Game Management Plan where Objective 2-1 stated, “Manage regional deer populations to ensure that yearling males don’t exceed 50 percent of the adult male population.”  This objective allowed New Hampshire’s biologists to establish seasons that ensured the male segment of the population contained multiple age classes.

  We support managing wildlife using ecologically-based wildlife landscape zones.  However, we encourage the Ministry to establish these zones at the smallest possible scale that your data collection affords.  Managing wildlife using ecological rather than political boundaries is wise as long as the variance of population densities and other demographics within those boundaries is not too great.  In this case, managing at a smaller scale is more beneficial for wildlife species.  We recognize the desire to minimize the number of management zones, and we support that as long as the Ministry can collect the necessary data to manage at those scales.  If the Ministry does not currently have the needed data, we encourage enhanced data collection efforts to acquire it.

  With any size of management zone, data collection is imperative for proper management.  This is true for game and non-game species, and it is critical for species the Ministry sets harvest regulations for such as white-tailed deer, moose and black bear.  We encourage the Ministry to increase their data collection efforts with respect to the white-tailed deer harvest to at least include a measure of the age structure of the antlered buck harvest.

  We appreciate the opportunity to comment on this management plan.  Please contact us if we can provide additional information and thanks for your commitment to Ontario’s natural resources.

   Respectfully,

  Rob Argue

 Canada Director of Operations and Outreach

  Kip Adams

 Director of Education and Outreach

[Original Comment ID: 196504]