County QDM rules are made permanent
This is good news for another area that is trying to set forth QDM (quality deer management) so the local deer herds will benefit as well as the residents.
In what will likely become the last quality deer management (QDM) survey administered by the Department of Natural Resources for Leelanau County, some 72 percent of hunters and owners of five acres or more supported the continuance of special rules designed to help younger bucks to survive hunting seasons.
A contingent of hunters from Leelanau County, including Leelanau Whitetails president Will Bunek, drove to Lansing last week to encourage the state Natural Resources Commission to extend QDM regulations.
“We really feel we have happy hunters in Leelanau County, for the most part, and it’s been good working with the DNR,” said Bunek.
Some five years ago, the NRC approved rules supported by Leelanau Whitetails protecting bucks with less than three points on one antler. At the time, only 64 percent of landowners and 67 percent of hunters supported the mandate. Surveys were authorized through a NRC policy allowing local advocacy groups to petition for special deer hunting regulations in their areas.
But the policy required two-thirds support by hunters and landowners to enact QDM rules. It wasn’t until after a Michigan State University professor explained that the 64 percent support level fell within the survey’s margin of error that the NRC agreed to the QDM rules.
The latest surveys, conducted after hunters and landowners viewed results of having QDM regulations in place, showed support had increased.
After viewing results of the survey as part of an all-day meeting, the NRC appeared ready to extend QDM rules in Leelanau for another five years. That’s when Bunek spoke up.
“I raised my hand and said, ‘All of the other ones have been indefinite,’” said Bunek. Instead, commission members agreed to dispense of requiring more surveys in five years, and made the program permanent.
“Now there will be no more surveys,” said Bunek. “It’s in.”
It’s been a long road for the Leelanau Whitetails organization, which sold baseball caps with its moniker starting about 2000 to raise money and awareness for their cause. They were asked by DNR biologists to provide more carcasses than antlerless permits issued in Leelanau for biological testing, a request that resulted in some resentment.
But through the five years of QDM, even Whitetails members who had little respect for DNR staffers when the process began grew to appreciate their hard work, Bunek said.
“When we started, some of us really lit into them,” said Bunek. “But all of (the DNR personnel) have been very good to work with.”
Bunek said Leelanau Whitetails members plan to meet within the next month to chart their next move. “You need to keep educating people, and tell them what (quality deer management) does and how it affects the deer population,” said Bunek.
DNR Conservation Officer Mike Borkovich hopes that hunters keep lines of communication open with area orchardists, some of whom opposed QDM because of fears it would lead to more crop damage.
“QDM should be helpful to orchard owners, because it means much more than growing bucks with bigger antlers. It also means keeping deer herd numbers at or below the carrying capacity of the land, something that benefits fruit growers. Deer numbers won’t increase because of QDM. In fact, it mandates that the herd stay in balance,” he said.
Leelanau County is home to two of the state’s five QDM areas. Spikehorns are protected on South Fox Island.
Spikes are also protected on Drummond Island and a QDM area in Iosco County. A QDM zone including portions of Dickinson County also protects bucks with less than 3 points on one antler.
written by: Allen Campbell