Hi Neighbor,

Hope you had a good year. I know I did. We didn’t take any bucks the past season but did take 8 does and one fawn. My immediate neighbors connected on four nice bucks, a 2 ½ year old 9-pt., 2 ½ yr. old 10-pt., 2 ½ yr. old 12-pt., and a 3 ½ yr. old 17-pt. All of these bucks were taken in one section and any one of them would have been the best buck taken in that section in the last 25 years. Something’s working right. Hope to have pictures and stories on these bucks next newsletter. Please send me your pictures and stories. I am not sending any harvest questionnaires out as I have in the past. The information is too widespread and loses accuracy. I am still gathering information for my immediate area and I recommend that other QDM members consider it also. A good history of the deer harvest helps you make proper decisions.

To bring you up to date, there will be a town meeting addressing the QDM DMU107 demonstration at Jay’s on February 6, 2000, starting at 1:00 p.m. The deer spectacular is scheduled for February 11^th through the 13^th at the Civic Center in Lansing. We will have a booth there. Stop in and say hello. The Ludington area QDM Branch will host a seminar in Ludington on April 15, 2000. President Gary Anderson has obtained our National Executive Director, Mr. Brian Murphy, as keynote speaker. Details to follow in the next newsletter. Consider leaving that date open, for it promises to be exciting. The T. B. issue is a serious matter and our branch is working with the DNR to collect deer heads for testing. We have collected over 200 heads from several counties. Thanks to the many like Carl Wheeler and members of the Mid Forest Lodge, Frank Myers, Bill Sclesky, Phil Andres, processors like Steve Tenwalde and Ernie Simon. A job well done! We had five deer checking days at Jay’s. Again, we collected biological data on over 200 deer. Mr. Marc Yenkel headed that operation and did an outstanding job. Thanks to Jeff Best who did Boone and Crockett scoring. Also, thanks to guys like Al Urban and Bruce Patterson who helped out. Our thanks to the DNR for spending a day teaching us how to age deer.

The enclosed generalized sustained yield table for free-ranging white-tailed deer with explanation is enclosed for your study and use. It is interesting and useful in deer management. Many hunters have questions on how do I start, how many, what kind of deer, what to expect, and many other questions as they progress in their deer management program. I have been thanking a lot of people in this letter but I need to do it one more time. Thanks to all you deer researchers, especially our own DNR biologists like Mr. John Ozoga.

Our next meeting will be at Jay’s on January 8, 2000, at 12:00 p.m. We have much to discuss and we need your input.

Hope you have a good year and keep the fun in hunting!

Ed Spinazzola

P.S. Our secretary, Mr. Boyd Wiltse, had eye surgery and I am pleased to say that he is recovering normally. Our hope and prayers are with you, Boyd.