DEER HUNTERS GET TO WORK
THE GALT HOUSE LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY MAY 6-8, 2015
Over 200 stakeholders representing state wildlife agencies, NGOs, landowners, researchers, the hunting industry and, of course, hunters got to work on behalf of deer recently at the North American Deer Summit in Louisville, KY. Their challenge was to select 5 from the list of the top 20 plus issues impacting deer hunting and management that were identified at the inaugural Whitetail Summit in 2014 and to develop specific action items for each. These weren't necessarily the 5 most important issues; rather, they were the 5 issues attendees wanted to work on and/or the issues they felt the National Deer Alliance (NDA) could impact the soonest. These action items would essentially be the NDA's marching orders over the next 2 to 3 years The 5 issues and action items are listed below:
HUNTER RECRUITMENT & RETENTION
- Petition the Council to Advance Hunting and Shooting Sports for NDA to join their Board.
- Capitalize on the positive image of hunters feeding the hungry.
- Summarize and disseminate contributions of hunters into big-picture conservation.
While the NDA is clearly a deer driven organization, and deer are clearly what drives the hunting industry (which depends on recruitment and retention), some great work is being done by the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports and some other organizations. Our best play is to do what we do best (ensure we have deer to hunt now and in the future) but tying into existing efforts will help the overall effort.
POLITICAL INFLUENCES ON HUNTING
- Advocate for scientific (rather than political) decision-making and advocate for wildlife agencies to maintain jurisdictional authority.
- Integrate grassroots action; develop a mechanism to easily contact legislators, as well as email alerts for hot issues.
- Get some political allies involved in the NDA; review successful models for advocacy (i.e. Sportsman's Caucus and United States Sportsmen's Alliance), and possibly align with them and other similar organizations.
This was a hot one as Summit attendees saw little value in politicians making deer policy. The key here is to organize and unite behind good science that will help politicians better understand the deer issues that frequently come before The science is the easy part, it's the uniting which will require the hard work.
LANDSCAPE CHANGE/HABITAT LOSS
- Better explain how habitat improvement for deer benefits other natural resources.
- Participate actively in Farm Bill development.
- Work with state/federal agencies and private landowners to encourage active habitat management.
This one is clearly dead center in the NDA wheelhouse. The 3 deer organizations (Quality Deer Management Association Whitetails Unlimited, and theThe Mule Deer Foundation, ) who comprise the core of the NDA, collectively know more about the connection between habitat and deer than all the other conservation organizations together. The NDA will leverage the combined knowledge base and strength to of all three to impact wildlife habitat issues like never before.
PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF HUNTING
- Promote the food attributes and healthy lifestyle benefits of hunting.
- Start advertising campaigns to promote true values of hunting; make sure messages are tailored and delivered by and to traditional and non-traditional hunters.
- Develop hunter code of conduct that builds a positive popular image (i.e. respectful photography, especially on social media).
A great deal of the conversation at this year's Summit centered on natural foods, healthy eating and the value of hunting deer for the table. This all fits in the context of the locavore movement which is gaining traction across the continent (especially with younger, health conscious influencers). Both keynote speakers (Shane Mahoney and Stephen Rinella) really drove these points home. We're on it!
CAPTIVE DEER INDUSTRY
- Advocate to ensure deer are classified as wildlife and not livestock.
- Encourage elected officials to pay more attention to science-based information.
- Advocate/partner for more funding, re: disease research.
Spokespeople from the deer farming industry attended the Summit intent on finding common ground with those opposed to deer farming to work together in the common interest of deer and deer hunting. Further talks will be scheduled to identify common ground and explore ways to work together for deer. Preliminary areas of concern include: disease elimination and/or control, high fence standards, and advancing a pro hunting agenda.
Click here to download a complete list of the proposed action items and their final ranking.
The NDA's next steps are to develop specific strategies and metrics to address these action items and measure results. Rest assured it won't be easy, but anything worth doing rarely is. QDMA and the other NDA partners recognize this and look forward to meeting these challenges head on for the benefit of hunters and deer.