Minnesota Quality Deer Management Inc.        

          Hello everyone, I am writing this article with more than a little excitement. After working hard to educate hunters about the value of deer and habitat management for just over a year as QDMA we have realized the need to restructure. At a recent board meeting it was unanimously decided for multiple reasons that a more local concept was needed. From this meeting dawned Minnesota Quality Deer Management Inc.

What does Minnesota QDMI stand for?

• Education of hunters, landowners and non-hunters regarding the latest in deer and habitat management that is Biologically sound.
• Protection of young bucks
• Adequate harvest of adult does
• Habitat improvements that maximizes potential
• Safe an ethical hunting
• Increase hunting opportunities for our youth

And what are the results of QDM?

• A deer herd that is balanced within itself as well as with the environment. This means more older age bucks and often fewer does
• More exciting hunting (now try grunting and rattling)
• Less risk of disease
• Safer hunts and safer hunters
• Less damage to crops, gardens, vehicles
• Better relationships with your neighbors
• A much better understanding of deer management, you will be a manager instead of just a customer

We want to encourage everyone to keep their QDMA membership current. Most of the benefits of QDMA are reaped with being a member. Beyond that we feel our time and effort are much better spent with Minnesota QDMI.

          The concept of QDM has not changed at all, just the way we function                                     

          as a club. The benefits are huge!!           

1)      The money we raise stays in Minnesota. This will help fund the booths we do at the different sport shows as well as a perdiem to help offset travel costs. Also local ad costs as we can afford. We feel our membership dues and donations will largely cover these costs. Previously all membership dues were sent out of State and we paid our expenses privately. This will give us excellent exposure in a way that helps pays for itself.

2)      The workload will be greatly reduced. Fundraisers like banquets and seminars will be optional, not mandatory. We will be sending out a bi-annual newsletter to educate our members on the value of QDM.

      The spring edition will be filled with articles on habitat- management/food plots, all tailored to Minnesota! The fall edition will contain articles on hunting styles, harvest goals and ethical hunting practices.  To be an active member of QDMI all it takes is your membership dues. We have decided to call local clubs coops. There will be a discount on membership fees to encourage coop formation. All it takes are 10 people to sign up and you have your own coop! The coop is encouraged to hold 2 meetings a year. We feel a late winter/spring meeting and a pre-hunt fall meeting would be good ideas. This will give you a chance to work together as a group in your area, and any ideas you may have can be passed on to the State level in a timely fashion. This is a great way to educate your neighbors. It seems we all have neighbors who just like to resist QDM. What we have found is almost all of the time they just don’t really understand that QDM is a total package, not just about trophy hunting. It might be a good idea to give these folks a complimentary membership for a year. I have learned first hand most of the opposition will go away after they realize the benefits of working together.

3)      You will be part of an organization that already has the attention of our legislators and DNR in Minnesota. The best ideas in the world are worthless if not presented in an organized manner to the right people.

4)      By joining Minnesota QDMI most hunters will save several years and many thousand dollars by shortening the learning curve with their deer management program. What took me over 10 years to do you can achieve in 2 or 3 years. Until recently this information was not available, and most of this was directed to the Southern States. For QDM to really work in any area it has to be done on a neighborhood level. This is the importance of forming coops. Education is the key with QDM.

5)      Our long-term goal is to implement one or more pilot programs in Minnesota where QDM philosophy is mandated in the rulebook. Other States have already done this. We feel this will help all hunters, landowners or not and will keep a quality hunt from being available to mostly the wealthy. We don’t need to travel across the country to find quality hunting, what we need is QDM right here in Minnesota! Initial steps have already been taken in this direction.

We have had a lot of interest in QDM the last year, but have found that even though many people agree they just don’t have the time to fulfill the mandatory obligations. Our new scaled down version will level the playing field nicely. All members are invested equally without taking hardly any of your time or money, and we feel that our goals within Minnesota will be reached with aggressive growth that can come from a simple annual membership. We are a non-profit organization so any donations are tax deductible. In the computer world this would be called user friendly.

Thank you and I look forward to working with you in the future.

  Sincerely, Clyde Stephens   President – Minnesota QDMI