Hunting News

New statewide deer plan aims to increase transparency

New statewide deer plan aims to increase transparency

By Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The new statewide deer plan, just released, sets new goals and priorities, increases formal opportunities for citizens to influence deer decisions, and aims for a disease-free deer population.

The plan reflects a two-year planning effort that involved statewide meetings and hundreds of in-depth conversations with citizens and stakeholders. It includes input from a 19-member citizen advisory committee, dozens of public input meetings and open houses, more than 1,100 submitted comments and letters from tribal governments, hunting organizations and others.

“We’ve listened, and the plan reflects that,” said Tom Landwehr, DNR commissioner. “The document is largely about sharing a vision, clarifying expectations and improving two-way communication among hunters and other stakeholders for the benefit of deer management.”

To read the new 50-plus page plan click here.

Leslie McInenly, the DNR wildlife manager who coordinated the plan, said “we’ve placed a high priority on working with citizens to discuss how best to collectively work toward our shared goals.”

The plan’s eight broad goals cover topics ranging from research, to keeping Minnesota’s deer populations healthy to how the DNR and the public work together on deer management.

The DNR will also increase two-way communication with hunters, landowners and others by convening annual deer management discussions with interested citizens at the area wildlife office level and creating an ongoing statewide deer stakeholder input group.

Local meetings will provide hunters and others with a forum for sharing their observations, hearing the DNR’s management proposals and identifying opportunities to improve deer management.

The plan supports Minnesota’s hunting heritage through efforts to recruit, retain and reactivate hunters while also minimizing deer damage to native plants, agricultural crops, forest regeneration or negative societal impacts such as deer-vehicle collisions and urban deer conflicts.

More frequent regular deer hunter and public attitude surveys will help gauge satisfaction and identify areas needing improvement.

Responding to chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Minnesota’s wild deer herd will be a top priority for the agency in the near term. The plan provides direction to eliminate CWD in wild deer and minimize the risk of new introductions.

The plan includes specific performance measures that will help the DNR and the public track progress over time.

One performance measure is a statewide harvest target. The DNR will track annual harvests in relation to a general statewide harvest target of 200,000 deer per year. This number reflects the approximate statewide harvest when deer populations are generally within goal range in most permit areas.

As part of its new outreach effort, the DNR encourages the public to contact their local wildlife manager for additional information or to address any questions they may have about the deer plan. Find area wildlife offices here.

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