QDMA Press Release
QDMA Secures $50,000 Grant to
Support Pennsylvania Deer Research Project
Bogart, Ga. – The Quality Deer Management Association has secured a $50,000 grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation to expand an ongoing study of deer and deer hunting in Pennsylvania.
The study, which began in January 2006 and will continue through 2008, is a cooperative project between the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State University and the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC).
The grant is a 50/50 match of federally appropriated funds and money raised through QDMA Sponsor Budweiser and its “Help Budweiser Help the Outdoors” program.
“All of us at QDMA are grateful to the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and Budweiser for this generous grant to expand this important research,” QDMA Executive Director Brian Murphy said.
In addition to the $50,000 grant, significant additional funds and other resources will be provided by the PGC, the Pennsylvania Coop Unit, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and QDMA.
During the two-year study, which will take place on two study areas in north-central and south-central Pennsylvania, researchers will capture 140 to 160 does each year and fit them with radio collars to track their movements and survival. About 25 percent of the deer captured will be fitted with GPS radio collars, which will provide hourly updates on their locations and movements.
During Pennsylvania’s modern firearms season in late November, aerial surveys will be used to estimate hunter densities and map hunter distribution across each study area.
Combined, the data will help Pennsylvania deer managers understand how deer react to hunting pressure and how hunters utilize public hunting lands.
“One of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s primary goals of this research is to develop the most accurate population model possible for the state’s whitetail population,” said Kip Adams, QDMA’s Director of Education and Outreach for the northern United States, “and this project will provide critical information to assist in this effort.”
Wildlife biologists traditionally model deer populations based on the number of deer harvested by sex and age. While this approach provides useful trends in deer abundance, it may not provide accurate population estimates. By collecting doe survival and harvest data, this project will provide biologists with additional data to better estimate deer populations.
“With continued reports from some Pennsylvania hunters indicating that deer populations are too low in many areas, especially public lands, this groundbreaking research is absolutely vital to managing deer populations at levels compatible with the habitat while meeting hunter expectations,” Adams said.
“We believe this research will be extremely valuable to other states in their ongoing deer-management programs, particularly in the Northeast,” Murphy said. “Agencies throughout the Northeast and around the country spend considerable time and resources to estimate annual deer populations, and this project will help create a model that can be transferred with little difficulty.
“Herd monitoring is one of the cornerstones of Quality Deer Management,” Murphy added, “and research is one of the major components of QDMA’s new REACH program. We are excited to be a part of this important research, and grateful for this grant to support its expansion.”
A formal presentation of the grant will be made at the QDMA National Convention in Valley Forge, Pa., June 22-25.
Founded in 1988, QDMA is a national nonprofit wildlife conservation organization with 40,000 members in all 50 states and several foreign countries. Membership in QDMA is open to anyone interested in better deer and better deer hunting, and committed to ethical hunting, sound deer management and the preservation of the deer-hunting heritage. To learn more about QDMA and why it is the future of deer hunting, call (800) 209-DEER [(800) 209-3337] or visit www.QDMA.com.
–QDMA … better deer, better deer hunting–
|
