Dear Mr. Weise:

Attached is an application from the Tri-County Wildlife Unlimited Board of Trustees. It involves setting up an experimental, mandatory Quality Deer Management (QDM) program, under DNR supervision, in the Eastern Upper Peninsula.

Tri-County authorized the filing of this application at its Monday, February 26, 2001 annual members meeting. Tri-County also appointed me to serve as project director and to represent the interests of our club in this process. Rex Ainslie of the Sault Ste. Marie DNR office was present at the meeting and I also had time to speak with him before the meeting.

I would appreciate your review of the application and I am respectfully requesting your approval to proceed with the program under the DNR procedure established in 1999 for QDM programs. I would like to work closely with you and other DNR staff to modify the application to address any concerns you may have. I have taken the liberty to send a copy of this application to Rex Ainslie because of my previous interactions with him.

If it is at all possible, we request that the DNR approve our application before the May 15 deadline so we could begin implementing this program with the 2003 hunting season, assuming we complete all the other required tasks to your satisfaction. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to working with you on this project.

Yours truly,

Leon E. Hank
4649 Crampton
Holt, MI 48842; 517-699-2393

The Tri-County Wildlife Unlimited (Tri-County) proposes to establish a five-year mandatory quality deer management program in DNR Deer Management Units (DMUs) 001, 495 and 496 for the purposes of improving the buck-to-doe ratio, creating an older buck age structure (protecting most one and one-half year old bucks), and achieving adequate (but not excessive) antlerless deer harvests so that the total deer population is under the area’s carrying capacity.

Tri-County is an active wildlife management association covering parts of Chippewa, Mackinaw and Luce counties of the Eastern Upper Peninsula. Tri-County has been in existence since 1985 and has over 450 active members. Each year, during the second weekend of September, Tri-County holds an annual banquet for its members at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan with over 450 people from the tri-county area in attendance. Tri-County raises over $8,000 per year from its members for the support of wildlife and hunting and fishing opportunities in the tri-county area.

Tri-County operates as a non-profit corporation in the State of Michigan with Mr. Daniel Keiper, 1838 Fourteenth Street, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as its President. A seven person board of directors works with President Keiper in managing the affairs of Tri-County.

Tri-county proposes to establish a five-year mandatory QDM program in accordance with DNR "Procedure for Initiation, Evaluation, and Review of Mandatory Quality Deer Management Proposals," dated September 9, 1999 (hereafter called QDM regulations). The areas proposed to be covered by this program include DMUs 001, 495 and 496 as defined by the DNR for the 2000 hunting season, covering most of the Eastern Upper Peninsula, except Drummond Island (DMU 497). Tri-County has been informed that it is likely these three DMUs will be combined into one DMU, beginning with the 2001 hunting season.

QDM regulations require a preliminary measure of support to be included with the draft proposal for a QDM program. Tri-County is the sponsoring organization for this proposal and offers its full support for this program to meet the preliminary measure of support requirements as defined in the regulations.

Tri-County’s statement of purpose for its proposed QDM program is as follows:

The mission of the Tri-County Wildlife Association’s Quality Deer Management program is to assist the Department of Natural Resources in managing the white-tailed deer herd in the Eastern Upper Peninsula to (1) improve the buck-to-doe ratio to approximately 1:2 or lower, (2) create an older buck age structure (protecting more than half of the one and one-half year old bucks), and (3) achieve adequate (but not excessive) antlerless deer harvests so that the total deer population is under the area’s carrying capacity, resulting in a healthy deer herd that can survive most winters without substantial losses.

Secondary goals of the program are to (1) promote the notion of stewardship, and (2) promote efforts to improve the quality of deer habitat management practices among the land-owner and the deer-hunting population in the area through expanded educational opportunities for land-owners and hunters.

Tri-County proposes that its QDM program include a mandatory harvest restriction on bucks such that they must have at least three points on one side to be a legal buck, each of the three points being at least one inch in length. A second buck harvested would have to have four points on a side, as is the case with the existing regulations. Outside of this QDM process, Tri-County will also be working to eliminate the second buck license for these three DMUs as another important deer management strategy.

Tri-County believes this proposed regulation is a reasonable regulation because the regulation protects at least 73% of the one and one-half year old bucks (based on data summarized in the QDM regulations) and it is easily enforced by law enforcement officers, relative to other more complex and precise harvest restriction alternatives. This proposal meets the requirements in the QDM regulations that the proposed regulation must protect at least 50% of the yearling bucks.

During the 2002 hunting season (one year prior to implementation), Tri-County will conduct a data collection effort by collecting at least 100 bucks and 200 antlerless deer to establish baseline data for evaluating the proposal’s effectiveness. Tri-County will work with DNR staff to properly collect age, sex, antler size, and hunter success data needed for proper evaluation of future changes in the deer harvest regulation. Tri-County volunteers and DNR staff (and volunteers from Lake Superior State University) would collect this data at established collection points within DMUs 001, 495 and 496 and at DNR checkstations, including the Mackinaw Bridge. As required by the regulation, details of this process will be worked out cooperatively by Tri-County and the DNR. Tri-County has experience in collecting deer data throughout the proposed area and can find experienced volunteers willing to fulfill this requirement. Tri-County also has an excellent record of working collaboratively with DNR staff in the past on similar projects.

Tri-County will work cooperatively with the DNR throughout the remainder of the project (evaluation years 2-5, hunting seasons 2003-2006) to ensure that the progress of the project is evolving toward the accomplishment of its mission.

Furthermore, as a part of its QDM program, Tri-County will make an effort to educate hunters on the advantages of taking an adequate (but not excessive) number of antlerless deer in the area, working to provide some balance to the long-standing prejudices against harvesting antlerless deer that have existed for decades in the EUP. Tri-County would also make an effort to educate hunters on taking extra precautions to avoid harvesting "button" bucks as a part of the antlerless harvest, using material similar to that included in the DNR’s 2000-01 Hunting Guide.

Where used in this proposal, the desired buck to doe ratio of 1:2, means the ratio of adult bucks (one and one-half year and older) to adult does (one and one-half year and older) as measured at or near April 1 of each year, after all hunting seasons have closed and after any winter kill losses are accounted for, but before the spring fawning season begins.

Establishing a five-year mandatory QDM program, in accordance with DNR regulations, requires a seven-year commitment for successful completion. Tri-County is committed to carrying out this project and has named Mr. Leon E. Hank of Holt, Michigan as its Project Director. Mr. Hank has been very active in QDM activities on a national, statewide and local level since 1996 and he makes a personal commitment, as a part of this application, that he will work diligently to meet the objectives of the project over the next seven years and that he will work collaboratively with the DNR staff on the project.

Tri-County also shows its commitment to the project by agreeing to pay the required $2,000 fee to the DNR "Wildlife Bureau Gift Account." As a part of promoting support for the program throughout the EUP, Tri-County will also speak to other wildlife management and outdoor sporting groups, seeking both their volunteer support and financial contribution to this effort. Mr. Hank and the Tri-County Board of Directors will direct this effort for Tri-County.

Tri-County agrees to follow the dates for implementation of the proposal as contained in Table 1 of the QDM regulations. Tri-County respectfully requests the DNR to consider final approval of this proposal by May 15, 2001, if this is at all possible so that Tri-County does not wait an additional year before beginning implementation, beginning implementation with the 2003 hunting season.

Tri-County and its project director plan to begin holding educational meetings on the proposal as soon as possible and would like to begin them no later than the July to November, 2001 time frame. Meetings would be held throughout the area and in cooperation and joint-sponsorship with local outdoor sporting groups where possible.

Tri-County stands ready to revise this proposal as necessary to meet the requirements of the DNR and the QDM regulation.