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 different methods for aging white-tailed deer on Tuesday, July 25, at 6 p.m. MDC and NDA staff will discuss the benefits of being able to age deer as part of a successful management program. The discussion will include how to age live animals “on the hoof” and harvested deer using tooth characteristics.
The webinar is part of MDC’s Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP). All are welcome to participate in the Zoom webinar, even if not enrolled in DMAP.
Save this link and click on it July 25 at 6 p.m. to join the free, live webinar on methods for aging white-tailed deer: us06web.zoom.us/j/87530565870#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 an additional free, live Zoom webinar on using data to inform deer management on Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. Save this link and join the webinar live: us06web.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. Watch a recording of the webinar at youtu.be/1LDlOvpuMJ4.
MDC and NDA also previously presented a Zoom webinar on deer survey techniques. Watch a recording of the webinar at youtu.be/8xBclXYcPes.
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.