JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – 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 wildlife cooperatives on Tuesday, March 28, at 6 p.m. MDC and NDA staff will explain wildlife cooperatives, what they are, and how they can be beneficial for wildlife and habitat management on private property. The free webinar will also include first-hand accounts of landowner experiences with wildlife cooperatives.
Save this link and click on it March 28 at 6 p.m. to join the free, live webinar on wildlife cooperatives: short.mdc.mo.gov/4g2
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 Surveys on May 30 at 6 p.m. atus/j/83130071914#success
- Deer Aging Techniques on July 25 6 p.m. at us/j/87530565870#success
- Using Data to Inform Deer Management on Sept 12 at 6 p.m. atus/j/81780816373#success
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.