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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for

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Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,

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Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan, and this is episode number four

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Speaker 1: oh five, and today I'm joined by Kip Adams of

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Speaker 1: the National Deer Association to discuss the most important trends,

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Speaker 1: harvest and hunter data, and news items related to the

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Speaker 1: current state of deer and deer hunting in all right,

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Speaker 1: welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you

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Speaker 1: by on X. Today, I've got Kip Adams from the

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Speaker 1: National Deer Association and we're doing our annual review of

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Speaker 1: the Deer Report that the National Deer Association puts together

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Speaker 1: each year. It was previously the White Tail Report that

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Speaker 1: they are putting together when they were known as the

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Speaker 1: Quality Deer Management Associate aation, but now as most of

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Speaker 1: you know, they're the National Deer Association, and we're examining

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Speaker 1: those more most important issues that are impacting deer and

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Speaker 1: deer hunting. We're gonna be talking through what deer harvest

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Speaker 1: levels were, and what the breakdown of the hunting trends were,

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Speaker 1: and what's new and important and or concerning in the

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Speaker 1: deer hunting world. What kind of legislation is out there

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Speaker 1: that's impacting us? Uh? How is COVID impacting things of

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Speaker 1: the deer hunting world? How are things like c w

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Speaker 1: D something that we still need to pay attention to.

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Speaker 1: That's the kind of stuff we discussed today, and I

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Speaker 1: want to just remind us all, and this is a

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Speaker 1: reminder for me as much as it is for anybody

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Speaker 1: that to be a deer hunter today, it's not just

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Speaker 1: to go out there and and shoot a deer and

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Speaker 1: eat venison and put antlers on the wall or something

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Speaker 1: that maybe was was an okay definition of being a

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Speaker 1: deer hunter twenty or thirty years ago. But today, in

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Speaker 1: this modern world, with all the different pressures that are

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Speaker 1: on deer hunting and deer and wildlife habitat, with everything

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Speaker 1: that's going on right now, and all the potential dangers

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Speaker 1: to this thing that we love, to be a deer

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Speaker 1: hunter today, I would argue, means we need to be

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Speaker 1: informed and involved like never before. Deer hunting and wild

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Speaker 1: creators and wild places. They need each and ever one

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Speaker 1: of us. This thing requires each and every one of

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Speaker 1: us to be an advocate for this stuff, to be

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Speaker 1: a fighter for these things, and so part of that

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Speaker 1: means learning what's going on. We each need to have

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Speaker 1: an understanding of of what's happening out there, not just

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Speaker 1: what's happening in the woods behind my house, but also

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Speaker 1: what's happening at the national level that could impact my

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Speaker 1: ability to hunt behind the house in two years, or

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Speaker 1: five years or twenty years. That's the kind of stuff

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Speaker 1: we're talking about today. That's the kind of thing I

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Speaker 1: would just implore you to to to try to take

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Speaker 1: a little time to focus on and to think about

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Speaker 1: and make sure you're doing your part as a part

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Speaker 1: of this community. So the and for today is to

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Speaker 1: dive into these topics with Kip. We're gonna learn a lot,

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Speaker 1: We're gonna get a sense of what the state of

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Speaker 1: affairs is right now. Should we be optimistic, should we

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Speaker 1: be concerned? And what can we do as individuals to

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Speaker 1: make sure that we can keep hunting to make sure

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Speaker 1: our future kids can be hunting, to make sure there's

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Speaker 1: deer out there and open wild places to do it. So,

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Speaker 1: without all said, let's just kick right into this conversation

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Speaker 1: with Kip. I hope you enjoy it and thank you

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Speaker 1: for listening. All right, I've got with me here on

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Speaker 1: the line. Kip Adams, Kip, thank you for coming back

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Speaker 1: on the show for our our annual visit here talking

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Speaker 1: the state of white tails and deer across the country.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate you being here, absolutely, Mark, good to be here.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't mess it. I'm glad. It's become a tradition

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Speaker 1: of sorts. Um. It's it's nice to have certain things

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Speaker 1: that are cyclical that I can count on. With as

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Speaker 1: much being so uncertain these days, it's nice to know

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Speaker 1: that I can count on at least one good high

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Speaker 1: level what's going on in the deer hunting world conversation

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Speaker 1: with you, Kip, it's it's it's good to know I

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Speaker 1: can depend on that good deal. I'm glad to do that.

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Speaker 1: And uh, definitely nice and given what's going on in

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Speaker 1: the country today, that we can talk about something that's

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Speaker 1: fun and and has some positive trends going true true,

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Speaker 1: and and that I guess that that tease that tease

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Speaker 1: me off really well, or I'm not sure if that's

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Speaker 1: the right way to word it, that that kicks off

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Speaker 1: this discussion I think in an appropriate way, because before

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Speaker 1: we dive into the main topic that I want us

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Speaker 1: to cover, which is, you know, the trends and data

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Speaker 1: and insights you guys have gleaned as you've put together

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Speaker 1: Deer Report. UM, I want to kind of zoom out

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Speaker 1: a little bit and and just kind of get your

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Speaker 1: sense of the state of our deer hunting world, you know,

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Speaker 1: giving your position in charge of UM, I think your

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Speaker 1: official title note kept correct if I'm wrong, but it's

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Speaker 1: Chief Conservation Officer, Is that right? That's right? Yeah. Through

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Speaker 1: the merger, UM, I got a new title. It sounds

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Speaker 1: very official. Yeah, like I'm on the law enforcement still

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Speaker 1: biologist at heart. Yeah. So. But but with that said, though,

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Speaker 1: I know that you have your finger on the pulse

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Speaker 1: on a lot of things within the deer management and

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Speaker 1: the deer hunting and the deer advocacy world. UM, You're

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Speaker 1: you're tapped into a lot going on across the country.

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Speaker 1: And as you kind of alluded, there's a lot going

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Speaker 1: on across the country right now outside of deer hunting.

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Speaker 1: It's just kind of tumultuous times across health, politics, everything.

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Speaker 1: And I'm curious when you look at the deer hunting

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Speaker 1: side of things from a holistic point view. So when

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Speaker 1: you stand back and you look at the state of

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Speaker 1: of the deer culture in America and deer hunting in America,

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Speaker 1: and how deer are managed across the country and even

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Speaker 1: Canada and North American general, um, And when you look

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Speaker 1: at that and then you consider what all this means

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Speaker 1: for the future. If you were to rate the state

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Speaker 1: of all of that on a one to ten scale,

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Speaker 1: from one being you can't sleep at night because you're

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Speaker 1: so concerned, up to a ten meaning you sleep like

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Speaker 1: a baby at night with no worries, where would you

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Speaker 1: place that rating for for where we're at right now

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Speaker 1: in your perspective, I think, well, I would place that

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Speaker 1: at the somewhere between a six and a seven. UM.

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Speaker 1: I'm an optimist, Mark. There's some really positive things going

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Speaker 1: on in the deer hunting world right now, some things

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Speaker 1: that I'm super proud of, and hunters are really reaping

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Speaker 1: the benefits. For UM, there's just a couple of really

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Speaker 1: big things out there that that are detracting from that.

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Speaker 1: So there are there are certain aspects I'd say I'd

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Speaker 1: raided a nine or ten out of ten. UM. There's

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Speaker 1: just a couple really really big things hurting that that's uh,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna pull that overall score down to somewhere between

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Speaker 1: a six and seven. Okay, So, so I definitely want

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Speaker 1: to dive into what those couple of big things are

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Speaker 1: that are concerning you. But but let me add one

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Speaker 1: more h additional add on to that first question. I've

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Speaker 1: got a couple of sons who are one and three

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Speaker 1: years old now, and I know you have your children

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Speaker 1: as well a lot of folks listening to in having that,

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Speaker 1: having kids, I guess in general has for me at

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Speaker 1: least forced me to look much more for much more

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Speaker 1: towards the future. I think a lot more ah forward thinking.

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Speaker 1: I'm not focused on just what's gonna happen next year,

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Speaker 1: but I've been forced to think, Okay, if I make

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Speaker 1: this decision, or if I vote for this policy, or

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Speaker 1: if I do X, what does that mean for my

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Speaker 1: kid's future twenty years from now or forty years from now? Um,

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Speaker 1: what's that going to look like? So, So, twenty years

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Speaker 1: from now, Kip, when my two sons are, you know,

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Speaker 1: leaving college or whatever they ended up doing, and they're

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Speaker 1: entering the working adult, you know, phase of their life,

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Speaker 1: do you think that deer hunting and the wildlife resources

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Speaker 1: that we have today. Do you think that will be

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Speaker 1: around in the same capacity as we have right now?

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Speaker 1: What do you think that's gonna look like? I do.

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Speaker 1: Some of my colleagues what would feel the same, But

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Speaker 1: I do and uh. And the reason for that is

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Speaker 1: because deer hunters that have have rescued our wildlife resources

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Speaker 1: in the past, um, and I firmly believe that they

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Speaker 1: will again. There's there's definitely some big challenges on the

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Speaker 1: on the horizon right now, and thanks face and dear

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Speaker 1: herds that uh, that are as big as challenges as

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Speaker 1: we've probably ever faced before. But UM, I'm a firm

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Speaker 1: believer that you know, for all of the the in

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Speaker 1: fighting that deer hunters can do and an occasional you know,

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Speaker 1: fighting with our state wilife agencies are fortunately at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, we have always answered the bell

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Speaker 1: and UH at six things, and I'm a firm believer

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Speaker 1: that that will do that again. I like the optimism,

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Speaker 1: and I know that you are, as stated an optimist,

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Speaker 1: so I hate to start with the negative. Sorry about that,

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Speaker 1: But what are those things that you mentioned some colleagues

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Speaker 1: might feel otherwise, what are the things that are making

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Speaker 1: them more pessimistic or that are the maybe these are

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Speaker 1: the same things that do cause you word to what

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Speaker 1: are those things that could potentially negatively impact the future

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Speaker 1: that we hope for for our kids. The by far,

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing impacting the future of our of our

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Speaker 1: deer management programs that deer hunting today is chronic waste

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Speaker 1: and disease. UH. This disease continues to spread, continues to

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Speaker 1: infect more deer and impact more deer hunters, so that,

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Speaker 1: more than anything else, challenges the future of our deer herds. UM.

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Speaker 1: Part of it is, uh, you know, complacency by some hunters.

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Speaker 1: There's there's still a lot of hunters that that don't

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Speaker 1: believe it's an issue at all. And every day that

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Speaker 1: goes by, we see how more of a important issue

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Speaker 1: it is, and how more of an impact that's ha

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Speaker 1: been on deer herds. And you know, we're getting to

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Speaker 1: the tipping point in some places with that. So, UM,

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Speaker 1: habitat loss is a big thing. And disease, you know,

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Speaker 1: other diseases, UM, you know, hunter numbers, There's lots of

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Speaker 1: things that always impact this, but by far and away,

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Speaker 1: the biggest challenge on the horizon for deer today the

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Speaker 1: c w D. You mentioned the complacency issue, and I

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Speaker 1: would I would add to that. In addition to complacency,

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Speaker 1: I think there's also a fatigue aspect with c w

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Speaker 1: D for a lot of hunters, because it's something that

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Speaker 1: we hear about. Folks have been hearing about it since

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Speaker 1: the early two thousands when it first sort of started

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Speaker 1: gaining steam in Wisconsin, etcetera. And you know, at least

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Speaker 1: from me being on the the communications side, the media side,

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Speaker 1: I hear from you know, audience members like you know,

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Speaker 1: you can just there's this sense that you can pick

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Speaker 1: up through social media and everywhere where people are kind

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Speaker 1: of overhearing about it, or they wanna push under the rug,

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Speaker 1: or you know, it's not that big of a deal.

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Speaker 1: I kill more dear than c w D does that

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Speaker 1: kind of thing. Um, how I think let me let

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Speaker 1: me take a step back. I think part of the

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Speaker 1: reason that is the case is that it seems like

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Speaker 1: c w D is one of those one of these

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Speaker 1: issues that does not showcase the negative nature of what

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Speaker 1: it means in the short term. So you don't see,

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Speaker 1: you know, fifty of your dear her disappear in one

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Speaker 1: summer like you might have with e h D. When

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Speaker 1: that comes through town and that wipes out a bunch

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Speaker 1: of deer, alvious like people and feel that they can

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Speaker 1: see that right away, and they say, oh, wow, e

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Speaker 1: h D really clearly negatively impacted me this year, and

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Speaker 1: it's cutting dry, it's fast, and that leaves the mark.

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Speaker 1: C w D in most places is not showing up

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Speaker 1: in that kind of way. It's much harder to put

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Speaker 1: its finger on. It's much uh more contentious across the

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Speaker 1: nation as far as how we should deal with that.

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Speaker 1: In a lot of ways, it's it's it's sort of

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Speaker 1: analogous to what we see with COVID, and that you know,

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Speaker 1: some people are impacted really significantly, while a lot of

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Speaker 1: other people can kind of say, well, it doesn't seem

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Speaker 1: to be impacting me. Let's just go about daily life

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Speaker 1: blah blah blah. And and so you you you see

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Speaker 1: controversy arising around that. Um. All this leads me to

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Speaker 1: ask you, Kip, given the fact that you have probably

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Speaker 1: greater insight to the realities of CWT than most of us,

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Speaker 1: simply because you work in this field, you study it,

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Speaker 1: you're reading all the research related to it, you're you're

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Speaker 1: trying to positively influence. Um, you know, the direction of

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Speaker 1: how we deal with it. Given what you know about

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Speaker 1: c w D and the trajectory we're on, what does

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Speaker 1: the c w D impact look like twenty years from now?

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Speaker 1: So using that same twenty years in the future, Um,

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Speaker 1: if we if we don't do anything, if we don't

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Speaker 1: do the right things when it comes to c w D,

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Speaker 1: what's the reality we could be facing with twenty years

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Speaker 1: from now based on everything you've seen and read and researched. Well,

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Speaker 1: what we have seen you know in states that have

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Speaker 1: had at four or twenty years or just over twenty years,

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Speaker 1: as we start to see population level impacts. So you

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Speaker 1: know a lot of people today say, wow, yeah, we

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Speaker 1: still have a lot of d year. That may be

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Speaker 1: true now, but you know CBD just slowly and fast

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Speaker 1: through a dear population. So you know, it's not going

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Speaker 1: to have a population and level impact today or tomorrow,

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Speaker 1: but twenty years down the road, it absolutely is so

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Speaker 1: and we know that that's very clear. We have examples

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Speaker 1: of that in the United States now, So we will

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Speaker 1: see population level impacts from the disease. But one of

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Speaker 1: the things about this disease you know that makes it

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Speaker 1: so dangerous is that there are so many other things

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Speaker 1: that are tangent to it that impact hunters, Like even

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Speaker 1: if CWD is not having a population level impact yet,

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Speaker 1: just the fact that it it is in a deer

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Speaker 1: heard where some people hunt makes some people hunt less.

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Speaker 1: They hunt less, they're less engaged, which means they spend

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Speaker 1: less money on hunting stuff, which means there's less money

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Speaker 1: to manage wildlife. So that negatively impacts it. Well. As

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Speaker 1: soon as you have the disease, now you know, if

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Speaker 1: the dearest positive, you can't eat it, certainly if you

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Speaker 1: if you follow any advice of the Centers for Disease

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Speaker 1: Control or World Health organization. So if you can't eat it,

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Speaker 1: now you know what do you do? A lot of

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Speaker 1: hunters now won't harvest the deer if you're particularly let's hear,

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Speaker 1: if they can't eat it. So now you start dealing

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Speaker 1: with other population level you know, growth impacts, you know,

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Speaker 1: where we have too many deer and it degrades habitat

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Speaker 1: and that's bad for other species. And man, oh man,

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Speaker 1: there's just this whole snowball effects. So you know, one

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Speaker 1: of the things about c w D that that I

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Speaker 1: place it so high on that issue list is because

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Speaker 1: it just doesn't hit the deer or you know, one way.

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Speaker 1: It hits it from all angles everything. It impacts deer

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Speaker 1: populations and deer hunting. So it's the cumulative effect of

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Speaker 1: all of that mark that that really places a number

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Speaker 1: one on the issue list that's threatening the future of

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Speaker 1: our of our deer hurts. Yeah. Another thing that seems

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Speaker 1: so challenging about c w D is that the management

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Speaker 1: of it is not clear cut. You know, when it

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Speaker 1: comes to I don't know if I if I if

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Speaker 1: I've got to cut on my arm, it's very clear

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Speaker 1: people will say, well, you know, put pressure on the wound,

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Speaker 1: covered up, blah blah blah, stitch it up, whatever is

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Speaker 1: going on. There's there's relatively a clear prescription of how

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Speaker 1: to deal with a challenge like that when it comes

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Speaker 1: to c w D. You know, as as at least

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Speaker 1: I've personally seen over the last ten fifteen years of

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Speaker 1: myself following this. Personally, it seems like very few people

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Speaker 1: and that's that's not true maybe, but there is some

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Speaker 1: contention around what should we do about it, how should

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Speaker 1: we manage how should we try to deal with CWD

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Speaker 1: um you know occurrences when they pop up in an area,

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Speaker 1: which to the long term UH management guidelines be all

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Speaker 1: that stuff, you know, causes controversy. It causes just I

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Speaker 1: don't know if it's despair, but some amount of agitation

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Speaker 1: within the hunting population, within those folks that manage, dear

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Speaker 1: all that stuff. So I bring that up to say

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Speaker 1: that it does not seem like we have had a clear,

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Speaker 1: easy solution yet there hasn't been. U. Well, we just

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Speaker 1: need to do X, and it's going to solve all

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Speaker 1: the problems. So every year when hunters hear about this,

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Speaker 1: they hear us CW is a big deal, we need

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Speaker 1: to do something about it, etcetera, etcetera. Average Joe hunter

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Speaker 1: sits at home and says, well, there's not much I

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Speaker 1: can really do. I don't know how I can positive

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Speaker 1: impact things, or I don't see what that clear solution is,

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Speaker 1: and so it might be discouraging. It obviously is discouraging,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's also part of why sometimes you

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Speaker 1: get some folks in the hunting world who just kind

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Speaker 1: of turn off to it. They just want to put

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Speaker 1: the blinders on and focus on what I can do

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Speaker 1: personally or what's going on in my hunting world, and

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Speaker 1: I can't do anything about that CWD stuff. I can't

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Speaker 1: handle what the government's doing, etcetera, etcetera. UM. So my

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Speaker 1: question then for you, Kip, is you know, we've talked

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Speaker 1: every year about this topic to some degree since last

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Speaker 1: year or in recent years. Is there anything new? Is

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Speaker 1: there any new progress? Is there anything that's making you

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Speaker 1: more optimistic that we will have some kind of clear

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Speaker 1: guidance or that we will have some kind of clear

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Speaker 1: next steps or something impactful that either we as a

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Speaker 1: management community, those folks in charge of making decisions, or

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Speaker 1: we as the hunting community us on the ground can

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Speaker 1: do to actually make a difference here, because feels a

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Speaker 1: little bit daunting. Now, you're absolutely right, Market and that's

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Speaker 1: one of the reasons why, you know, we we have

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Speaker 1: not made more progress on it is because there are

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Speaker 1: so many unknowns, and you know, the good thing is

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Speaker 1: we're learning more about it every year. Um. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot of research that goes on, you know, so we

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Speaker 1: learn more about the disease, but more importantly, we're starting

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Speaker 1: to learn about some ways, you know, from a management standpoint,

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Speaker 1: that we can positively impact or make a difference, you know,

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Speaker 1: to keep it from spreading. So a few of the

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Speaker 1: things that we know about CWD, there's no cure, there's

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Speaker 1: no vaccine, and it's failed all there we know that

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Speaker 1: After that, there are so many things that we're not

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Speaker 1: exactly sure about that. This is uh one of the

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Speaker 1: reasons that a lot of hunters either don't believe what

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Speaker 1: the state wilife agency tells them or um just disengage

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Speaker 1: on it because you know, they don't have the answers.

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Speaker 1: And in a lot of the states have you know,

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Speaker 1: provided contradicting information in some cases about what you should

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Speaker 1: do or not. Some states say we're not gonna allow

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Speaker 1: a baiting because that can help spread the disease. They

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Speaker 1: have other states to say, well, we're gonna allow baiting

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Speaker 1: because we think we can kill more deer around those

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Speaker 1: bait sites. And you know, it's not like the old

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Speaker 1: days where hunters don't know what's going on in other states.

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Speaker 1: You know, everybody has the Internet. Everybody looks so you

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Speaker 1: can see what your states guidelines say and what hunters

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Speaker 1: and other states are allowed to do. So that confuses

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Speaker 1: hunters and because of that, you know a lot of them,

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Speaker 1: you know, have not believed what their agencies have told them.

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Speaker 1: So that definitely plays into some of the mistrust or

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Speaker 1: the complacency from a hunter's end. And at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, we just haven't had a lot of

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Speaker 1: good news for Hey, these are ways you can help. Fortunately,

359
00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:43,119
Speaker 1: there are some things we do know now. Um, we

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Speaker 1: don't know how to completely stop the spread of it,

361
00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,520
Speaker 1: but we do have a better understanding how this disease

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Speaker 1: is spread. And if we know that today, if we

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00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,080
Speaker 1: just stop moving live deer, and we stop moving the

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00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,800
Speaker 1: high risk parts of deer that we shoot, that we

365
00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:01,400
Speaker 1: can dramatically slow the spread of the disease down. And

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Speaker 1: fortunately more hunters are doing that than ever before. States

367
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Speaker 1: have some restrictions on what you can move and why,

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Speaker 1: and just because you have those rules in the books

369
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Speaker 1: doesn't mean hunters abide by them. But hunters understand more

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Speaker 1: today about the dangers of moving you know, the backbone

371
00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:21,440
Speaker 1: or the brain of deer from disease areas outside so

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Speaker 1: as A as organizations, you're a perfect example. You share

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Speaker 1: good information, Hunters follow you. They believe you uh n

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Speaker 1: d A. You know we share good information. State agencies

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Speaker 1: do so Today more hunters at least understand that. Okay,

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Speaker 1: I can help slow the spread if I don't move

377
00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:42,000
Speaker 1: these high risk parts. I'm gonna debone this meat, you know,

378
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Speaker 1: before I take it home or before I cross the

379
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Speaker 1: state line. That's something that every hunter can do to

380
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Speaker 1: to battle this. And you know something that we know

381
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,280
Speaker 1: more hunters learn or understand today than ever before. So

382
00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:56,399
Speaker 1: that's a good thing. We just need to keep doing

383
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Speaker 1: positive things like that while we wait for the science

384
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,679
Speaker 1: to catch up to find a cure for this terrible disease. Okay, Okay,

385
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:06,320
Speaker 1: that that makes sense, and that is something you know,

386
00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,040
Speaker 1: that is one specific example of something we can do

387
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,440
Speaker 1: that can make a positive impact. So I like that.

388
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Speaker 1: Is there has there been any one piece of science

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00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:18,160
Speaker 1: over the last year or anything that stands out to you, Kip,

390
00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:22,480
Speaker 1: is most interesting or most compelling or most um optimism

391
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,720
Speaker 1: inducing for you. Is there anything new on the horizon

392
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,480
Speaker 1: that gives you hope from the science perspective. Yeah, one

393
00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,159
Speaker 1: thing is is the test, you know, the RT quick,

394
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:35,480
Speaker 1: which is a was a faster test for this disease. Um.

395
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,920
Speaker 1: You know, one of the limitations here's the hunters getting

396
00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,639
Speaker 1: deer tested is you know, we take it. We have

397
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:42,159
Speaker 1: a sample to get the test. That we have to

398
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 1: wait for the test to come back and may take

399
00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:46,800
Speaker 1: several days. It might take two or three weeks. Some

400
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:48,679
Speaker 1: hunters have to wait a month for the test to

401
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,560
Speaker 1: come back. In the meantime, you know, does the processor

402
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,560
Speaker 1: have your meat? You know, did your process at home?

403
00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:56,399
Speaker 1: We process all of our own meat. More than once

404
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:58,480
Speaker 1: we have processed that, labeled it, have it in the

405
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,199
Speaker 1: freezer and waited over three weeks for the results to

406
00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,359
Speaker 1: come back for us to know can we eat this

407
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,560
Speaker 1: or not? I mean, that's a that's a huge burden

408
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,480
Speaker 1: that's there. Well, one of the things at least with

409
00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,480
Speaker 1: science now is there are you know, there's been progress

410
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:17,720
Speaker 1: in um testing for CWD that can return much quicker results,

411
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:20,200
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of scientists looking at being able

412
00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,440
Speaker 1: to have much more rapid tests. So all of that

413
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:25,760
Speaker 1: is a very good thing. Hunters don't have to wait

414
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:27,920
Speaker 1: as long to know yes or no, I can eat

415
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:31,359
Speaker 1: it or not. So you know, ideally, you know, we

416
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,200
Speaker 1: could do something very quickly or a and an in

417
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,439
Speaker 1: field test. We're not there yet and probably aren't going

418
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,440
Speaker 1: to be for the next few years, but at least

419
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,919
Speaker 1: the time frame for testing has gotten much more rapid

420
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 1: now and testing is becoming more available to to a

421
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,280
Speaker 1: larger segment of the hunting population. So those are really

422
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:54,600
Speaker 1: really good advances in this fight. Yeah. So what what

423
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:58,280
Speaker 1: would be the NDA recommendation when it comes to testing

424
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 1: for individual hunters? Is it? Is it your recommendation that

425
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,600
Speaker 1: if you are in a region where there is CBD,

426
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,200
Speaker 1: that you should have every deer tested. Um. Is there

427
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,680
Speaker 1: some kind of blanket consistent guidance that you guys would

428
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 1: suggest for hunters. YEP. The National Deer Association that follows

429
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,719
Speaker 1: the CDC guidelines. You know, they're the experts on this,

430
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:23,280
Speaker 1: and they strong incurs people to not eat a deer

431
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,440
Speaker 1: help any any sort of unless you know that it

432
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,240
Speaker 1: it does not have c w D or you get

433
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,919
Speaker 1: a satisfactory test result. Uh. And the only way to

434
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,199
Speaker 1: know if it doesn't have a disease is to get tested.

435
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:37,600
Speaker 1: So our recommendation is, yes, if you are hunting into

436
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,680
Speaker 1: a zone where cw D has been confirmed, have the

437
00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,200
Speaker 1: deer tested before you eat, and wait until you get

438
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,400
Speaker 1: a satisfactor test result before eating it. Um. If you're

439
00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:49,800
Speaker 1: not in the zone. We have to remember most of

440
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,160
Speaker 1: the counties in the United states have not confirmed the disease,

441
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,160
Speaker 1: so it's not like it's everywhere yet. And that's part

442
00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:57,920
Speaker 1: of this battle, is this just make sure that it

443
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,600
Speaker 1: doesn't get everywhere. So mo hunters don't have to worry

444
00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,879
Speaker 1: about this, but for those that live in and hunt

445
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,159
Speaker 1: in the CWD zone, yeah, absolutely, we encourage it to

446
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:11,160
Speaker 1: have that animal tested. We want those states to know

447
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 1: where that where the disease is, you know, previleence rate

448
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:16,960
Speaker 1: of it, you know, is it in just a handful

449
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,680
Speaker 1: of animals in a zone or is it a lot?

450
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:20,879
Speaker 1: You know, that makes a difference on how that state

451
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,600
Speaker 1: while ife agency should attack it and the management programs

452
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 1: they put in place too slow that spread down or

453
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:28,560
Speaker 1: to try to get rid of it. So so it's

454
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 1: important from the sample and end and the management end.

455
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:34,040
Speaker 1: It's all supportant from a personal safety and yeah, and

456
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:37,359
Speaker 1: I can attest from personal experience, and I'm sure you

457
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,320
Speaker 1: can do it. It's a pretty painless experience having to

458
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:42,280
Speaker 1: to go and get a deer tested like that. It's

459
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,720
Speaker 1: it's not a huge time commitment. It's a little inconvenient,

460
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:49,359
Speaker 1: but it's it's certainly well worth, um, you know, doing

461
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:52,160
Speaker 1: things the right way and being safe. So I would

462
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 1: echo what you just said, kept and encourage anyone who's

463
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: in that type of situation too to go ahead and

464
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:03,159
Speaker 1: do that. Um uh. At the ah, well, I guess

465
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:07,919
Speaker 1: I've already thrown us off of the the headlines that

466
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:11,119
Speaker 1: you might have wanted to lead with, Kip, as I

467
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:13,639
Speaker 1: know that the Deer Report this year does not lead

468
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:18,760
Speaker 1: with a depressing conversation about CWD. Um, you guys kind

469
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:20,480
Speaker 1: of lead it with some other things. So let's get

470
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 1: back to what you've been working on over the last

471
00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 1: couple of months, which is this analysis of the state

472
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,160
Speaker 1: of deer and deer hunting across the country. You guys

473
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,200
Speaker 1: do a great job with us every year. Um, when

474
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,959
Speaker 1: you look at the report, what are the headlines in

475
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:36,919
Speaker 1: your mind? What are the things that stood out that

476
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:41,560
Speaker 1: we should that we should examine here, Well, let's talk

477
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,679
Speaker 1: about a couple of really positive things first, and because

478
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:46,240
Speaker 1: I think there is a lot of good news out

479
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,800
Speaker 1: there in the deer world. Um. You know, one of

480
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 1: the things within this is as we look at the

481
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 1: age structure. You know of the buck well in the

482
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 1: analyst harvest as well, but we monitor the age structure

483
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 1: the buck harvest just to see Hey, you know, how

484
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:01,880
Speaker 1: close to we get to have these very natural age

485
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:04,160
Speaker 1: structures out there in the dear world, you know, and

486
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,080
Speaker 1: what opportunities to hunters have. And uh, what we saw

487
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 1: was that of all of the antler bucks that were harvested,

488
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 1: the percentage that we're one and a half years old

489
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,240
Speaker 1: or you know, have that first set of antlers was

490
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:19,199
Speaker 1: the lowest that it has ever been and recorded history.

491
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: And we have had this huge decline in the in

492
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,720
Speaker 1: the percentage of yealing bucks that total buck harvests from

493
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,679
Speaker 1: way back in when we started monitoring this all the

494
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 1: way until now. So, uh, what that means, mark is

495
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 1: that if we're shooting fewer younger bucks, then just a

496
00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:37,760
Speaker 1: much higher percentage of the buck harvests are older deer.

497
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,159
Speaker 1: And we had the lowest percentage of yearlings and we

498
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,120
Speaker 1: had the highest percentage ever of bucks that were three

499
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:46,679
Speaker 1: and a half years of age or older. And so

500
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,440
Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. You know, as hunters, we'd love to

501
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 1: to watch those deer during the summer. We you know,

502
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:54,879
Speaker 1: used trail cameras and scout do we take pictures of

503
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:56,919
Speaker 1: these older bucks and then now you know, we have

504
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 1: a better chance to hunt and harvest these older age

505
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 1: class bucks and at any point in my life, and

506
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,399
Speaker 1: at any point probably in the last two years. So

507
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:10,399
Speaker 1: that's pretty exciting and the hunters are really really enjoying

508
00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,239
Speaker 1: the benefits of that today. Yes, so, so I know

509
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:15,520
Speaker 1: the answer to this question, but I'm but I'm sure

510
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 1: there are some folks, especially newer hunters, that that probably don't.

511
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 1: The question is why does that matter? Why does having

512
00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:26,880
Speaker 1: a dear herd that is more balanced from an age

513
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 1: structure perspective, meaning there's a somewhat more equal number of

514
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:32,879
Speaker 1: year and a half old bucks versus two and a

515
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:34,439
Speaker 1: half year old versus three and a half year old

516
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,199
Speaker 1: versus four and a half, etcetera. Um, why is that

517
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 1: a good thing compared to what was more traditional maybe

518
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,560
Speaker 1: thirty years ago, which was lots and lots of those

519
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 1: a bunch of year and a half old bucks in

520
00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 1: very few older deer left because most bucks are getting

521
00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,720
Speaker 1: killed their first year. Um, why is our situation that

522
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 1: we're approaching now better for a deer herd and better

523
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:03,280
Speaker 1: for the overall eCos them than the alternative. Well, there's

524
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,080
Speaker 1: a couple of things that go into the and one

525
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:07,959
Speaker 1: of them is that that deer are far more social

526
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:10,480
Speaker 1: than most people realize. There's a lot of things that

527
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,440
Speaker 1: happened in a in a deer population that is controlled

528
00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 1: by young bucks, they scrape a lot more than young bucks.

529
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:23,880
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of interactions with with aunt

530
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,160
Speaker 1: Lois dear that you know. Young bucks. Can they breed, Sure,

531
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,040
Speaker 1: they can handle the beating aspect of it, you know,

532
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,480
Speaker 1: but they don't handle all of the other behavioral aspects

533
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,440
Speaker 1: the way that mature bucks do. So I tell people,

534
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,159
Speaker 1: whether you're a hunter or not, you know, if you

535
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 1: like deer, and I certainly hope that you do, even

536
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:41,920
Speaker 1: if you don't go hunting, Um, you should care that

537
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 1: we have very natural age structures, which means, you know,

538
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:48,840
Speaker 1: some bucks that are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, etcetera.

539
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 1: Just so that that dear population can act the way

540
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:54,800
Speaker 1: that that is supposed to in the way that that

541
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:58,000
Speaker 1: deer hurt evolved. So it's it's uh, if you take

542
00:28:58,040 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 1: a situation today, we'll look to replaced is what we

543
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 1: don't hunt. Um, you have very balanced stage structures and bucks.

544
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,480
Speaker 1: If you look at Native American middens and some of

545
00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:08,880
Speaker 1: the history, and I'm a huge Native American bus so

546
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 1: you know, I love to read about that stuff when

547
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,960
Speaker 1: they pull the pieces out of those and can reconstruct

548
00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 1: historic deer populations, they had very balance stage structures. So

549
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,600
Speaker 1: what that means is, hey, today, let let's be good

550
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 1: stewards of our natural resources. Let's just not be consumers.

551
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,080
Speaker 1: Let's let's be good at managing. And so part of

552
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:29,640
Speaker 1: that means, hey, let's let's manage to your hearts the

553
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 1: way they're supposed to be and have a very balanced

554
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 1: stage structure. And uh, because of both the management programs

555
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 1: we have today and hunters knowledge and willingness to pass

556
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 1: these younger deer, we have much more at natural age structures.

557
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 1: And that is a really really good thing. Yeah, And

558
00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 1: and is it am I right? And that there's a

559
00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: number of biological um benefits to that balanced structure as well.

560
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 1: So when you've got that unbalanced situation, you might have

561
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: of issues with the ruts and deer being bred and

562
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:07,640
Speaker 1: all sorts of different things like that that either impact

563
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,280
Speaker 1: the deer and or impacts the quality of hunting. Can

564
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: you elaborate on any of that? Yeah, certainly can. And uh,

565
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 1: you know, there's been a lot of researchers just looking

566
00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 1: at you know, value of those older deer and what

567
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 1: happens in those deer herds just from a communication standpoint,

568
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,360
Speaker 1: And there's some really cool research out of the University

569
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:29,200
Speaker 1: of Georgia looking at the forehead gland of bucks and

570
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:32,160
Speaker 1: you know that's right on their forehead, right where where

571
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 1: the word says, but that gets a lot more active

572
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 1: during the breeding portion of the year in older bucks,

573
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,320
Speaker 1: not so much in these younger deer. And University Georgia

574
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:46,240
Speaker 1: researchers have actually identified, you know, more than fifty different

575
00:30:46,640 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 1: pieces of information that bucks can display about themselves through

576
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 1: activity in that forehead gland. Now they don't know what

577
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 1: all that means, but there's a lot of different things

578
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: that those bucks are sharing with other deer, and that

579
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,240
Speaker 1: forehead gland has a lot becomes a lot more active

580
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: in older bucks, not in these younger deer. And that's

581
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 1: why some of your listeners, you know, if you shoot

582
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,040
Speaker 1: an older buck during the run, you often notice, man

583
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,400
Speaker 1: his forehead the hair looks a little wavy or it's

584
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:16,960
Speaker 1: it's awesome, you know, like a little redder, a little

585
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,520
Speaker 1: discolored compared to the rest of it. That's because of

586
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:23,080
Speaker 1: that enhanced activity of the forehead gland. So there's a

587
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 1: lot of really neat things like that that are going

588
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 1: on in the deer world that the casual observer you know,

589
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 1: doesn't realize or doesn't recognize, and that we didn't used

590
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,080
Speaker 1: to see thirty four years ago, when because of the

591
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,800
Speaker 1: way we harvest the deer, you know, almost no bucks

592
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 1: made it into these older age classes. So you know,

593
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,440
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of really cool behavioral things that

594
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,040
Speaker 1: impact behavior of that entire deer herd that's directed or

595
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:50,600
Speaker 1: regulated by the presence of those older bucks. You know,

596
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,360
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, I think this is two

597
00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:58,200
Speaker 1: years ago maybe, um, the percentage of the buck harvest

598
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 1: that was three and a half are older had reached

599
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 1: its highest ever point. UM at that point, I think

600
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,320
Speaker 1: it was thirty four percent or something along those lines,

601
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 1: give or take. And in our conversation you had mentioned that, Um,

602
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:14,440
Speaker 1: you know, we kind of hovered around that for a

603
00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:17,040
Speaker 1: number for a few years, and you had said, um,

604
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:18,800
Speaker 1: I don't want to quote you here, but but something

605
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 1: on the lines of that, we probably have plateau somewhere

606
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,600
Speaker 1: around this point. We've kind of plateau, but then this

607
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:27,520
Speaker 1: year it's up to I think it's thirty correct if

608
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,400
Speaker 1: I'm wrong, but I think that's the number I remember seeing. Um,

609
00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 1: we kind of took a somewhat significant jump there, um

610
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,840
Speaker 1: A am I writing that? And and be do you

611
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:43,920
Speaker 1: think that this is indicative of further changes there? Are

612
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,240
Speaker 1: we going to see that percentage grow even higher? And

613
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 1: it was the plateau effect? Maybe not what you expected?

614
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,760
Speaker 1: Or do you think that we'll see uh reverting to

615
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:53,880
Speaker 1: the mean? And and kind of just still stick in

616
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:56,840
Speaker 1: this mid thirty percent you know, about a third of

617
00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,080
Speaker 1: the overall harvest will be in that. Um, you know,

618
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:04,080
Speaker 1: in this kind of category. What are your thoughts there? Yeah,

619
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. Uh, I was off in my prediction. Um.

620
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 1: I had said that, you know, at that point, about

621
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 1: a third of the buck harvest was one and a half,

622
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: about a third was two and a half, and a

623
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:16,000
Speaker 1: third was three and a half or older. And uh,

624
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:17,640
Speaker 1: you know, I just didn't think that we would go

625
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:20,640
Speaker 1: any lower run a percentage of yealing bucks. So I

626
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:22,400
Speaker 1: didn't figure, well, that meant that, you know, we just

627
00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,240
Speaker 1: can't get too much higher on those older ones. And

628
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 1: uh man, this past hunting season, you know, we saw

629
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,120
Speaker 1: a big jump in that percentage that was the oldest

630
00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 1: age class Um, I don't think that we will sustain that.

631
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,520
Speaker 1: I really believe that it'll it'll come back to about

632
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:40,760
Speaker 1: a third in those three main age classes marked. Um.

633
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 1: I'm not sure exactly why that happened. You know, we

634
00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,560
Speaker 1: have so many older ones here. But you know, I

635
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 1: don't think that if we're going to see much difference

636
00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:51,120
Speaker 1: from that, um, And I should say I'm here to everybody,

637
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,320
Speaker 1: you know what burden February of one, talking about the

638
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:58,720
Speaker 1: one deer report. There are still some hunting seasons that

639
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 1: are you know, they're just ending right now. And we

640
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: published this report a couple of weeks ago. And so

641
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,080
Speaker 1: this data is from the two thousand and nineteen to

642
00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,280
Speaker 1: two thousand and hunting season, so it's the most recent

643
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:14,160
Speaker 1: hunting season that had complete data available. So all of

644
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,600
Speaker 1: the data from the twenty one or twenty and twenty

645
00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 1: one hunting season is either not even analyzed by state

646
00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,200
Speaker 1: yet or will be analyzed over the next several months.

647
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 1: So the hunting season that we just finished, um Um,

648
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:30,279
Speaker 1: I know just from inecdotal reports, from from what I

649
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 1: see from state agencies and see from hunters across the country. Man,

650
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:36,319
Speaker 1: there was a lot of older bucks killed on this

651
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:40,120
Speaker 1: past year. So my belief is that we're going to

652
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:42,799
Speaker 1: revert to about to that a third of our total

653
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 1: buck carvers will be three and a half years or older.

654
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 1: But knowing how many big buck pictures were circulating online

655
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:50,319
Speaker 1: over the last few months, uh, I might be wrong

656
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 1: with that. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting because I think

657
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 1: that you have this trend where the general traditional hunting

658
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:03,040
Speaker 1: population has been killing fewer young bucks and killing more

659
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 1: older bucks, you know, year after year. That's it's been

660
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:09,040
Speaker 1: trading that direction for a long time now. But for

661
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,399
Speaker 1: the first time in a number of years, um, at least,

662
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:16,880
Speaker 1: it seems from early indications, we excuse me, we have

663
00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 1: an increase in hunter numbers this past year and hunter

664
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:24,040
Speaker 1: participation because of uh, you know, most people are assuming

665
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:27,919
Speaker 1: the pandemic effect with a lot of new people heading

666
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 1: out into the woods for something to do and giving

667
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 1: hunting a try. I know in Michigan, the number I

668
00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:35,440
Speaker 1: saw most recently was that there was a sixty seven

669
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:39,920
Speaker 1: percent increase in new license sales this past year. UM.

670
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 1: So if we were to make some assumptions based on that,

671
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,880
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if we get a bunch of new hunters

672
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:50,840
Speaker 1: that came in this year that maybe you know, aren't

673
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,320
Speaker 1: as either educated on this type of thing. We're interested

674
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:56,840
Speaker 1: in waiting for a deer, for an older deer and

675
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:58,920
Speaker 1: instead of just hey, I'm trying hunting for the first time,

676
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:00,719
Speaker 1: I want to kill the first year I see. I

677
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,359
Speaker 1: wonder if we'll see some kind of pandemic effect with

678
00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:07,439
Speaker 1: the age structure of our harvest. Uh next year as well.

679
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 1: And I know say it's a bad thing when it

680
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:12,640
Speaker 1: comes to new hunters getting out there. I'm just I'm

681
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:15,520
Speaker 1: just curious. I'm it'll be interesting to see if that

682
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 1: ends up being the case, and if if the number

683
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:21,480
Speaker 1: of new hunters that came out last year is actually

684
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 1: something that the data will reflect or if it's more

685
00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 1: you know, anecdotally, it seems like a lot of new people,

686
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 1: but really when it comes down to harvest levels, that

687
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,600
Speaker 1: won't be the case. UM. I don't know, Ki, have

688
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:34,080
Speaker 1: you seen any early indications of you know, if if

689
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:36,120
Speaker 1: any of that's gonna flesh yourself out in the data

690
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,120
Speaker 1: in reality, or is it more of just something that

691
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:42,359
Speaker 1: we're feeling. Um, I haven't seen any data on that yet,

692
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:44,439
Speaker 1: and uh, and I don't believe any of that data

693
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,400
Speaker 1: is available yet. But you bring up a good point

694
00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:50,080
Speaker 1: where the increased number of hunters this year, and and

695
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:52,320
Speaker 1: that's another one of the very positive things that I

696
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:54,680
Speaker 1: see going on. And we've got a huge up swing

697
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:56,960
Speaker 1: for the first time in a long long time with

698
00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 1: the hunter numbers. So there's definitely some hunters probably say, man,

699
00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:02,080
Speaker 1: I don't want to have more because then it's just

700
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:05,239
Speaker 1: competition with me. Um. I think that's absolutely the wrong

701
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,320
Speaker 1: way to look at it. More hunters coming into the

702
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:11,799
Speaker 1: support is really good for the future. So um, there's

703
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:14,560
Speaker 1: definitely an opportunity that the that they took some younger

704
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 1: deer and and hopefully some more analysts dere uh. We

705
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,640
Speaker 1: have seen through this R three movement, you know, or

706
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 1: that this field default movement where people you know, are

707
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 1: getting into the sport from a food end. Um. You know,

708
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 1: when I started hunting, it was it was just just

709
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:30,840
Speaker 1: because everybody I knew hunted, I wanted to hunt. Well,

710
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:33,000
Speaker 1: today it's very different. A lot of the people just

711
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,600
Speaker 1: starting are you have a very food focused reasoning. They

712
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:39,160
Speaker 1: want to procure their own food, and I think that's great.

713
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:42,880
Speaker 1: So because of that, you know, there's there's absolutely a

714
00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,799
Speaker 1: chance that a lot more first time dear from this

715
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,840
Speaker 1: past hunting season would have been analyst dear or maybe

716
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:52,000
Speaker 1: a younger buck. So it'll be it'll be interesting to see.

717
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,560
Speaker 1: But regardless of what that age structure shows. Um, I'm

718
00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:58,439
Speaker 1: a huge supporter of that big influx of a hunter

719
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:00,920
Speaker 1: numbers that that were saw this year. Yeah, yeah, I'm

720
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:02,480
Speaker 1: right there with you, Kip. I think it's I think

721
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:06,560
Speaker 1: it's a great thing, and it's it's it's it's just

722
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:10,479
Speaker 1: increasingly important that we can widen our base of of

723
00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:15,399
Speaker 1: support and our base of participants because you know, going

724
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:17,360
Speaker 1: back to that, what's twenty years from now going to

725
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:20,759
Speaker 1: look like, Um, if we don't keep hunter numbers up,

726
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,160
Speaker 1: if we don't keep support for hunting up. Um, you know,

727
00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:27,480
Speaker 1: it's it's not a guaranteed thing. As we've seen, there's

728
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:29,839
Speaker 1: there's always going to be folks trying to chip away

729
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:33,359
Speaker 1: at our rights and opportunities to hunt. So having new

730
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,480
Speaker 1: people into the fold is is absolutely a good and

731
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:39,520
Speaker 1: important thing. So while I know what you're talking about,

732
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:43,080
Speaker 1: there's always people that will complain about the added pressure,

733
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:47,520
Speaker 1: the added competition for deer. I would encourage everyone to

734
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:51,000
Speaker 1: to you know, brush off that inconvenience and remember that

735
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:57,120
Speaker 1: this is this is a good thing in the long term,

736
00:38:57,160 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 1: now that we're seeing you know, a lot of reports

737
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:03,480
Speaker 1: of increased participation last year, Have you guys the NDA

738
00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:08,280
Speaker 1: spent any time thinking about how do we keep that going?

739
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 1: How do we take advantage of this opportunity where we

740
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,279
Speaker 1: had a bunch of new people coming in, Um, how

741
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:15,759
Speaker 1: do we keep them here, how do we keep them involved,

742
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,000
Speaker 1: encourage them to stay involved? How do we make sure

743
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:19,799
Speaker 1: this isn't a one year blip on the radar? Do

744
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:21,560
Speaker 1: you guys have any thoughts on that or anything you

745
00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:23,880
Speaker 1: can share, uh for all of us to think about.

746
00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:27,600
Speaker 1: Oh man, do we ever said? And we have spent

747
00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:30,319
Speaker 1: a lot of time thinking about that and uh that

748
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 1: you know, this year, we are very fortunate that we

749
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:36,959
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to host the Southeast Dear Study Group,

750
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:41,600
Speaker 1: the biggest Dear biologist made another year. UM, it's virtual

751
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 1: this year because of the pandemic, and we have the

752
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:48,240
Speaker 1: unique opportunity to host that that exact question you just asked,

753
00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 1: We actually have uh specifically invited a handful of speakers,

754
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:57,920
Speaker 1: very prominent wildlife officials to speak at that conference to

755
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,359
Speaker 1: address that exact thing because we feel that it's such

756
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,799
Speaker 1: a huge issue and the I will say this, I'll

757
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:06,880
Speaker 1: give you my thoughts on this and what uh what

758
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:09,760
Speaker 1: n DA is feeling with this, and I'm very interested

759
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:13,319
Speaker 1: that we're gonna help make this a national conversation. Uh,

760
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:16,040
Speaker 1: you're right, there's a lot of new people in UH,

761
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:19,960
Speaker 1: many people who are starting hunting today, starting for for

762
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,960
Speaker 1: different motivations. Might be food related, might be other recreational

763
00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:27,359
Speaker 1: things related. But our take on this is is once

764
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: we have them here, you know, now, to keep them,

765
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,080
Speaker 1: we need to make sure that they feel welcome and

766
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:36,000
Speaker 1: that they feel like they had the resources necessary to

767
00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:39,239
Speaker 1: have fun with this and to be successful. And there

768
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,480
Speaker 1: are some state wilife agencies doing a great job with

769
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:46,880
Speaker 1: a user friendly websites and information for folks. UH. Because

770
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:48,960
Speaker 1: think about it, this is not like learning to you know,

771
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,839
Speaker 1: to play soccer or you know, or or or play

772
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:56,359
Speaker 1: piano or something. UM. Getting into honey can be very

773
00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:00,920
Speaker 1: very difficult, UM from a mentor standpoint, from an understand standpoint,

774
00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:03,200
Speaker 1: you know, gosh, you're trying to kill something for for

775
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,320
Speaker 1: God's sake, so uh, you know, it can be very daunting.

776
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:10,040
Speaker 1: So we think it is incredibly important to provide you know,

777
00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:13,840
Speaker 1: an overmundant amount of resources for these new hunters, whether

778
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:19,080
Speaker 1: that's videos, you know, written information, mentoring opportunities, etcetera. So

779
00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:21,120
Speaker 1: that now that they're here, we want them to have

780
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:23,799
Speaker 1: a positive experience you and want to stay and as

781
00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:25,840
Speaker 1: you're aware, you know, this could be the most rewarding

782
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,320
Speaker 1: thing in the world, is to find pleasure in the outdoors.

783
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:31,480
Speaker 1: And uh, we want to make sure that these hunters

784
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 1: do have an opportunity, you know, to do that and

785
00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,359
Speaker 1: make sure that it's not a bad first experience, so

786
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:40,120
Speaker 1: not you know, we don't want to be an unsafe

787
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:43,600
Speaker 1: or you know, an unfund one. So have fun. Let's

788
00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:45,719
Speaker 1: be successful, whether they shoot something or not. If they

789
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:48,040
Speaker 1: learn something and enjoy themselves, you know, that is how

790
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:50,960
Speaker 1: you can measure success. So um, yeah, we we want

791
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:53,600
Speaker 1: to make sure that this the resources they need are

792
00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:56,920
Speaker 1: there so that they stick around, stay and then ultimately,

793
00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,040
Speaker 1: you know, expose somebody else at the outdoors. That the

794
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:04,440
Speaker 1: greatest tool for adding new hunters to the fold is

795
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,320
Speaker 1: more new hunters who can pass it on other people.

796
00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:10,600
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of truth of that. Um. Back

797
00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:14,000
Speaker 1: to the report a little bit. Well, we talked about

798
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:16,799
Speaker 1: how the AID structure has been shifting in in what

799
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 1: you know, seems to be objectively a positive way with

800
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,600
Speaker 1: with fewer young deer being killed, more older deer being killed,

801
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:27,359
Speaker 1: and achieving that more balanced population. That's a good thing. Um.

802
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:33,160
Speaker 1: Another trend within the deer harvest across the country seems

803
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:35,880
Speaker 1: to be a little bit more concerning, um. And this

804
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:38,120
Speaker 1: is something you and I have talked about over recent years,

805
00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:41,080
Speaker 1: and it just keeps on going this direction, which is

806
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:47,799
Speaker 1: buck harvest going up, but doe harvest going down, down, down, down, um.

807
00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:50,640
Speaker 1: And this is a reversal of a trend that you know,

808
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:52,759
Speaker 1: had been viewed as a good thing for a lot

809
00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,080
Speaker 1: of years, where you know, thirty or fourty years ago, folks,

810
00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:58,200
Speaker 1: you know, thought you only kill bucks. This is my

811
00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,240
Speaker 1: grandpa's perspective. For a long time. It was you killed bucks,

812
00:43:01,239 --> 00:43:04,080
Speaker 1: but you don't kill does, because you know, we want

813
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:06,160
Speaker 1: more deer. There weren't many deer back in the day,

814
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,800
Speaker 1: so it was viewed as sacrilege to shoot a doll um.

815
00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 1: And that resulted in these unbalanced populations, with overpopulations of

816
00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:18,520
Speaker 1: deer in some areas, and you know, quality habitat being

817
00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:21,160
Speaker 1: chewed down to the ground because of that. So for

818
00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:24,919
Speaker 1: a lot of years, you know, management agencies and organizations

819
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:26,839
Speaker 1: promoted the fact that we do need to kill deer

820
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:29,520
Speaker 1: excuse me, killed does This is a big thing that

821
00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:31,720
Speaker 1: you guys, that the QT may preach for many years,

822
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:35,239
Speaker 1: the fact that, hey, we need to have a significant

823
00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:40,000
Speaker 1: doe harvest to manage populations, to be balanced with habitat um.

824
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 1: So for a lot of years, doll harvest went up

825
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,280
Speaker 1: and up and up. But now since two thousand seven,

826
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,160
Speaker 1: I think I saw on the report doll harvest has

827
00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:55,080
Speaker 1: gone down. So uh now here Kit And you've been

828
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:56,960
Speaker 1: able to see this trend now for quite a while.

829
00:43:57,200 --> 00:43:59,840
Speaker 1: What's going on? Why is this happening? And is this

830
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:05,200
Speaker 1: concerning to you? Is is? It looks to me? It

831
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:07,840
Speaker 1: is concerning to me. And this is another one of

832
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,960
Speaker 1: the biggest issues that we're fighting right now. And I

833
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,560
Speaker 1: think this is part of the whole pendulum that swings,

834
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:17,640
Speaker 1: you know, side to side. The you know, the the

835
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,560
Speaker 1: advent of quality deer management, you know, back in the

836
00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:23,760
Speaker 1: late eighties and was all about, you know, hey, balance

837
00:44:23,840 --> 00:44:25,520
Speaker 1: and deer herbs with the habitat Let's make sure we

838
00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 1: take enough ant lest deer. And and it took a

839
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:30,840
Speaker 1: long time for that to penetrate the hunting ranks, you know,

840
00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:33,959
Speaker 1: for hunters to become knowledgeable enough to know that that's

841
00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:37,200
Speaker 1: that's a good and necessary thing. And um and they

842
00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:42,200
Speaker 1: did that and was a monumental year for for deer management.

843
00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 1: It's the first time in the US history that our

844
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:48,080
Speaker 1: hunters took more antlest deer than antlood bucks. And and

845
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:51,240
Speaker 1: that trend was continued u for the next just about

846
00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:54,280
Speaker 1: twenty years. And uh so that's part of the reason

847
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:56,600
Speaker 1: we had such big gains and the health of our

848
00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,839
Speaker 1: deer herbs and health of of our wildlife habitat because

849
00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:02,880
Speaker 1: did a far better job having the right number of

850
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,720
Speaker 1: deer for what for what the landcape landscape could support.

851
00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:08,919
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, too many deers bad for deer

852
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:10,880
Speaker 1: and bad for the habitat, and you know, bad for

853
00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:16,400
Speaker 1: all the other wildlife species. So uh, well, to add

854
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:18,840
Speaker 1: to what you just asked about, we're kind of seeing

855
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:23,160
Speaker 1: that pendulum swing the other way something and uh two thousand,

856
00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:26,319
Speaker 1: two thousand and four teams fifteen kind of been there.

857
00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:29,360
Speaker 1: If you remember, we had a couple uh one hundred

858
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:34,319
Speaker 1: years hamorrhagic disease years. Two of the what I say,

859
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:36,359
Speaker 1: hundred jear. You know, with those events they say, oh,

860
00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:38,239
Speaker 1: this will only happened once in a hundred years, will

861
00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:41,520
Speaker 1: happened twice within ten years, and we lost a lot

862
00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:44,600
Speaker 1: of deer from that. Uh. We have a correspond to

863
00:45:44,680 --> 00:45:46,720
Speaker 1: the time where we lost a lot of habitat across

864
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:49,640
Speaker 1: the Midwest with a high corn and swayed bean prices,

865
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,880
Speaker 1: folks were pulling millions of acres of land out of

866
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:56,319
Speaker 1: c rp UM. So there's a few things that kind

867
00:45:56,320 --> 00:45:59,040
Speaker 1: of played together that all of a sudden you add

868
00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:01,080
Speaker 1: this in hand. Stand, let's harvest and and some deer

869
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:05,080
Speaker 1: herds went lower than than our state will of agencies prescribed. Well,

870
00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:07,319
Speaker 1: that's scared a lot of hunters. So what we have

871
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:10,640
Speaker 1: seen since then, Mark, is that they have really really

872
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:12,759
Speaker 1: backed off on the ant of the side, and we

873
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:16,279
Speaker 1: have deerhurts growing out of control in many places. And

874
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 1: that's evidenced by this increasing buck harvest each hear. That's

875
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:23,880
Speaker 1: the direct result of indication of rising deer herds. So

876
00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 1: the three last year's the hunting season in a row.

877
00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:30,839
Speaker 1: Our hunters have reverted to some old time ways and

878
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,040
Speaker 1: we've actually killed more of antler bucks than we have

879
00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:36,080
Speaker 1: Antler lists deer, and uh, there's definitely some states that

880
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:39,799
Speaker 1: can have very successful programs doing that, but the vast

881
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:42,840
Speaker 1: majority of white tail states that that's a recipe for

882
00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 1: a disaster. You know, they are productive enough that we

883
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,400
Speaker 1: are pumping enough fawns into the system that we need

884
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:51,160
Speaker 1: to be shooting more ant the list deer than Antler

885
00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:54,480
Speaker 1: bucks annually, or we're getting ourselves in trouble, and uh,

886
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:56,319
Speaker 1: we are. We have a bunch of states that are

887
00:46:56,320 --> 00:46:59,520
Speaker 1: getting themselves in trouble today because we just simply aren't

888
00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:06,440
Speaker 1: shooting enough ant list dear. So what's uh for those that? Again,

889
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:10,080
Speaker 1: just to get our basis covered here for people maybe

890
00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:12,440
Speaker 1: aren't as familiar with this particular issue, can you give

891
00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:16,520
Speaker 1: me the cliff notes on on what the negative ramifications

892
00:47:16,640 --> 00:47:18,960
Speaker 1: of this could be? So if this continues and we

893
00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:22,000
Speaker 1: keep harvesting fewer, does we keep on shooting a bunch

894
00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:25,160
Speaker 1: of bucks? Now we've got these dear populations out of control.

895
00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 1: If if you had to tell someone in an elevator

896
00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:29,880
Speaker 1: over thirty seconds, why that's a bad thing, what would

897
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:34,320
Speaker 1: that be? There's any environment only has a certain amount

898
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:37,520
Speaker 1: of food available to feed. You know, a certain number

899
00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:40,239
Speaker 1: of deer, and if we don't shoot enough ant list deer,

900
00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:43,680
Speaker 1: that deer heard just grows more or above the amount

901
00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:46,840
Speaker 1: of food that is available, so that negatively impacts the

902
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:49,520
Speaker 1: health of that deer herd and is not good for

903
00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:51,920
Speaker 1: the habitat or any of the other wildife species that

904
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:55,760
Speaker 1: are living there. Yeah, so is the solution as simple

905
00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:59,080
Speaker 1: as all of us out here listening, get our butts

906
00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:01,680
Speaker 1: and gear and and buy a few more dough tags

907
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:03,759
Speaker 1: and kill a few more doughs next year? Or is

908
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:06,440
Speaker 1: there any larger message you want to get out on

909
00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:09,640
Speaker 1: this front? Now that that's a lot of it. And

910
00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:12,000
Speaker 1: what most hunters don't realize is that you know, it

911
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:14,960
Speaker 1: doesn't take a lot more dose per hunter um if

912
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:17,160
Speaker 1: you take a look at it last year's hunting season,

913
00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:20,719
Speaker 1: and you know, many hunters find this number just unbelievable.

914
00:48:20,800 --> 00:48:24,120
Speaker 1: To less than half of the hunters in the US

915
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:28,279
Speaker 1: shoot one deer a year. You know, as we see

916
00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:30,239
Speaker 1: what the bag limits are, you think, gosh, many stags.

917
00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:32,160
Speaker 1: You can shoot two bucks and a couple of dolls,

918
00:48:32,239 --> 00:48:34,279
Speaker 1: and man, we're gonna wipe our deer herds out. But

919
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:38,120
Speaker 1: the reality of it is only the hunters last year

920
00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:42,520
Speaker 1: shot one deer. That was it, and only eight only

921
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:47,200
Speaker 1: the hunters shot more than one deer. And what happens,

922
00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:49,960
Speaker 1: Mark is everybody would rather shoot a buck. I shouldn't

923
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:52,319
Speaker 1: say most hunters would rather shoot a book than a dough.

924
00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:54,480
Speaker 1: And I totally get it. I like to shoot bucks too.

925
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:57,719
Speaker 1: So what that means is we just have a smaller

926
00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:01,000
Speaker 1: and smaller number of hunters shooting any does during the years.

927
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:03,880
Speaker 1: So yeah, we're not asking hunters to go and shoot

928
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:06,680
Speaker 1: three more dose x year. We're just asking hunters out there, Hey,

929
00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:10,080
Speaker 1: you know, shoot a dough, just one, and you know,

930
00:49:10,200 --> 00:49:12,160
Speaker 1: feed it to your family, if not, give it away

931
00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:14,879
Speaker 1: to another needy family. So there's there's great uses for them.

932
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:18,279
Speaker 1: So this is something that's entirely fixable by hunters, and

933
00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:20,480
Speaker 1: a lot of it is just them understanding the need

934
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:23,279
Speaker 1: or how they can contribute positively to the health of

935
00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:26,520
Speaker 1: the deer if they shot that one dough. Yeah, yeah,

936
00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:29,120
Speaker 1: it's a it's a it's a simple fix right there.

937
00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:31,880
Speaker 1: Put more meat in the freezer or share with some

938
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:34,400
Speaker 1: folks in your family or community, and you're doing a

939
00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:37,720
Speaker 1: good thing for the dear population and for the trees

940
00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:40,359
Speaker 1: and plants and grasses and all the other animals out

941
00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:43,839
Speaker 1: there that depend on that balanced habitat. So it's it's

942
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:47,800
Speaker 1: it's a win win on that front. Now, another figure

943
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:49,759
Speaker 1: that stood out to me within the report this year

944
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:53,040
Speaker 1: is again the continuation of another trend we've talked about

945
00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:54,960
Speaker 1: in recent years. It seems like there's a lot of

946
00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:57,439
Speaker 1: things that aren't popping up new it's just we're going,

947
00:49:57,440 --> 00:50:02,040
Speaker 1: we're sliding down these slopes and and this one is

948
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:06,440
Speaker 1: a little bit different as far as impact then we

949
00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:08,600
Speaker 1: just discussed. We just talked about the worries of more

950
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:12,279
Speaker 1: and more dear. This trend points to something that would

951
00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:15,319
Speaker 1: be worrisome if we were worried about not having enough dear.

952
00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:19,720
Speaker 1: And this is faun recruitment um the recruitment rate of fonds,

953
00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:24,120
Speaker 1: which is basically, you know, how many fauns, how many

954
00:50:24,160 --> 00:50:27,600
Speaker 1: young deer make it to the fall, make it at

955
00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:29,319
Speaker 1: the fall, how many how many doughs that are born

956
00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:31,200
Speaker 1: the spring, faunds are born in the spring make it

957
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:33,360
Speaker 1: to the fall. That would be a fund that is

958
00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:36,120
Speaker 1: recruited to the adult population. And I know that as

959
00:50:36,160 --> 00:50:38,919
Speaker 1: you guys describe in the report, um, you know that's

960
00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 1: measured across most states, and we've seen this change over

961
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:46,520
Speaker 1: time and in most places across the country. UM, this

962
00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:50,440
Speaker 1: recruitment rate has been declining pretty significantly. UM. Can you

963
00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:53,240
Speaker 1: elaborate a little bit, um for those that aren't familiar

964
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:56,640
Speaker 1: with this on exactly what that decline has been and

965
00:50:57,560 --> 00:51:02,480
Speaker 1: why that's concerning if if it is to you, Yeah,

966
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:04,560
Speaker 1: this is one thing that we watched very closely because

967
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:07,799
Speaker 1: it's a great measure of productivity these deer herds, and

968
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:09,920
Speaker 1: which is a good measure of, hey, how many deer

969
00:51:09,960 --> 00:51:12,000
Speaker 1: could we be shooting the gear, you know, and keep

970
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:15,560
Speaker 1: a very sustainable, healthy deer herd. And you know, people

971
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:18,200
Speaker 1: think that man, those doughs have twins and so us

972
00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:21,239
Speaker 1: each dough is recruiting a couple of fons, And the

973
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:23,719
Speaker 1: reality of it is that that's that's not true. And

974
00:51:23,719 --> 00:51:26,120
Speaker 1: and recruitment is you know, a fond that has been

975
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,600
Speaker 1: born and is alive at about six months of age.

976
00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:30,720
Speaker 1: So I think of day one of your hunting season

977
00:51:30,719 --> 00:51:33,480
Speaker 1: in the fall, that's when you measure faon recruitments. It's

978
00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:35,399
Speaker 1: the number of fonds that are alive and are being

979
00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:39,080
Speaker 1: recruited into that deer herd then, and you just measure

980
00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:41,080
Speaker 1: that on the basis of you know, how many fonds

981
00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:44,160
Speaker 1: are there for the adult does that are there. And

982
00:51:44,239 --> 00:51:46,879
Speaker 1: what's happening large scale is that that that number has

983
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:50,759
Speaker 1: really been declining over the last two decades in the US,

984
00:51:50,800 --> 00:51:54,520
Speaker 1: and back in two thousand, uh the average was was

985
00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:57,520
Speaker 1: point eight one fons per dome. So what that means is,

986
00:51:57,800 --> 00:52:01,080
Speaker 1: you know, the average dough out there was almost replacing

987
00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:04,040
Speaker 1: itself with the fond being recruited in. So you know,

988
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:05,960
Speaker 1: there's a lot of fonds that are born in the spring,

989
00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:08,840
Speaker 1: you know, that die to the predators or disease or

990
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:13,040
Speaker 1: malnutrition or hit by car or whatever. But there was

991
00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:16,040
Speaker 1: almost you know, a wonder one ratio. Well fast forward

992
00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:18,800
Speaker 1: to today and that has declined to the point six

993
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:21,680
Speaker 1: three fonds per dough. So what that means is, you know,

994
00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:25,040
Speaker 1: we're just recruiting fewer fonds now. Part of that is

995
00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:27,080
Speaker 1: there's a lot more predators than there have been in

996
00:52:27,120 --> 00:52:29,239
Speaker 1: the past, but part of that is just health of

997
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:32,040
Speaker 1: the deer herd. You know, as as we get deer

998
00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:35,040
Speaker 1: herds that are above what our habitats can support, those

999
00:52:35,080 --> 00:52:37,040
Speaker 1: those are not as healthy and they just simply can't

1000
00:52:37,040 --> 00:52:40,319
Speaker 1: recruit as many fonts. So that that plays into this

1001
00:52:40,560 --> 00:52:43,160
Speaker 1: you know as well. And a lot of hunters watched

1002
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:46,120
Speaker 1: this and they see you know, where they see bears

1003
00:52:46,120 --> 00:52:48,560
Speaker 1: stuff killing fons. Because of that, they think, man, I'm

1004
00:52:48,600 --> 00:52:50,839
Speaker 1: not going to shoot a dough this year. Well, that's

1005
00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:53,319
Speaker 1: not the right attitude to take that. The right attitude is, hey,

1006
00:52:53,400 --> 00:52:55,680
Speaker 1: let's look and see what's your state wilife agency is

1007
00:52:55,719 --> 00:52:58,440
Speaker 1: monitoring and measuring for this and what they want to

1008
00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:01,480
Speaker 1: see from an antlist harvest, keep these things healthy. You know,

1009
00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:05,120
Speaker 1: in many cases, as we shoot more, does uh the

1010
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:07,839
Speaker 1: remaining doors get more to eat, they become healthier. They

1011
00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:12,319
Speaker 1: actually can recruit even more fonts. So this is a

1012
00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:16,480
Speaker 1: very good thing to monitor to keep track of health

1013
00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:19,760
Speaker 1: of deer herds. And there's no doubt this has been declining,

1014
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:23,359
Speaker 1: but fortunately it's still at a rate mark where deer

1015
00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:26,960
Speaker 1: heads are very easily replacing themselves. Um, you know, if

1016
00:53:26,960 --> 00:53:29,319
Speaker 1: this was drops a lot more, I think then you

1017
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:31,239
Speaker 1: start to get into the danger zone a little bit,

1018
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:34,480
Speaker 1: but large scale anyway, we're still in good shape in

1019
00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:38,120
Speaker 1: most places from this faun recruitment rate. Um, there's no

1020
00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:42,640
Speaker 1: doubt that there are locales that are really having trouble

1021
00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:45,959
Speaker 1: recruiting fonds and in some places in the southeastern US

1022
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:48,480
Speaker 1: are actually having a hard time right now, you know,

1023
00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:52,440
Speaker 1: growing fonds large scale, like where you are, where I

1024
00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:55,440
Speaker 1: am in Pennsylvania and most of the country. Um, even

1025
00:53:55,480 --> 00:53:57,520
Speaker 1: though this number is less than it has been in

1026
00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:00,560
Speaker 1: the past, we're still in a very healthy situation for

1027
00:54:00,560 --> 00:54:04,040
Speaker 1: the number of farms we're bringing into our deer herts. Okay,

1028
00:54:04,160 --> 00:54:09,840
Speaker 1: well that's uh that that's reassuring. Um. So keep then

1029
00:54:10,120 --> 00:54:13,280
Speaker 1: when we look at the the rest of the report

1030
00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:16,719
Speaker 1: and the other data you collected and we're working on

1031
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:20,160
Speaker 1: here coming, is there anything else that stood out to

1032
00:54:20,200 --> 00:54:24,560
Speaker 1: you as as noteworthy or particularly encouraging or discouraging that

1033
00:54:24,600 --> 00:54:27,760
Speaker 1: you want to touch on as far as deer harvest

1034
00:54:27,800 --> 00:54:31,759
Speaker 1: trends or anything going on in the deer deer hunting world. Yeah.

1035
00:54:31,880 --> 00:54:33,720
Speaker 1: One of the things that I think is pretty interesting

1036
00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:35,680
Speaker 1: is if you take a look at the deer harvest

1037
00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:38,600
Speaker 1: by weapon type. Um. You know, we monitor this just

1038
00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:41,399
Speaker 1: to see how changes of harvest occurs. You go through

1039
00:54:41,560 --> 00:54:46,279
Speaker 1: archery and firearms, and fifteen years ago, mark only about

1040
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:49,560
Speaker 1: of the entire deer harvest was taken by bows. And

1041
00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:53,719
Speaker 1: today that's so that's grown a lot. Um, it's kind

1042
00:54:53,719 --> 00:54:56,200
Speaker 1: of plateau the last few years. But that's very different

1043
00:54:56,200 --> 00:54:58,960
Speaker 1: than the past, and it's it's a direct impact of

1044
00:54:59,040 --> 00:55:02,680
Speaker 1: you know, cross bow goos and expanded archery opportunities, and

1045
00:55:03,080 --> 00:55:05,279
Speaker 1: you know, it's just a lot easier for archers to

1046
00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:08,520
Speaker 1: get involved today. And uh, what I think is interesting

1047
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:10,760
Speaker 1: about it, though, is as you look at that number

1048
00:55:10,760 --> 00:55:13,080
Speaker 1: and how it's changed and try to compare it to

1049
00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:16,279
Speaker 1: hunter numbers, what we see is we haven't seen a

1050
00:55:16,320 --> 00:55:19,840
Speaker 1: big number shift and actual numbers of hunters in the woods.

1051
00:55:20,360 --> 00:55:23,000
Speaker 1: So what's really happening is is it's about the same

1052
00:55:23,120 --> 00:55:27,120
Speaker 1: number of people participating, just a lot higher percentage are

1053
00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:30,440
Speaker 1: killing deer earlier in the year. Now. You know, all

1054
00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:32,880
Speaker 1: these guys in many cases are a rifle and shotgun

1055
00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:35,800
Speaker 1: hunters that that also bow hunt. They may have always

1056
00:55:35,800 --> 00:55:38,480
Speaker 1: bow hunted or maybe just picked it up, but we're

1057
00:55:38,480 --> 00:55:41,600
Speaker 1: seeing a shift into the harvest earlier in the year,

1058
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:44,000
Speaker 1: which I'm a die hard bow hunt I mean, I've

1059
00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:46,200
Speaker 1: always both hunted, but you know, I see it in

1060
00:55:46,280 --> 00:55:48,360
Speaker 1: my area where more people seem to be in the

1061
00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:51,520
Speaker 1: woods during archer season and take advantage of some you know,

1062
00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:55,879
Speaker 1: additional analyst opportunities in some cases, take advantage of better

1063
00:55:55,960 --> 00:55:59,480
Speaker 1: weather in many cases. But one thing I think that

1064
00:55:59,480 --> 00:56:02,840
Speaker 1: it's imported. Weren't for people, particularly Northerners to remember about

1065
00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:06,440
Speaker 1: this because I know where I am in Pennsylvania. Historically,

1066
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:08,359
Speaker 1: you know, we had a two week buck season that

1067
00:56:08,360 --> 00:56:11,040
Speaker 1: that was the most electric time of the year, and

1068
00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:13,920
Speaker 1: when deer season came around, schools were closed. I mean,

1069
00:56:14,040 --> 00:56:17,080
Speaker 1: it literally was bigger than Christmas, and you could just

1070
00:56:17,160 --> 00:56:19,919
Speaker 1: feel the excitement. There was orange everywhere, and the roads

1071
00:56:19,920 --> 00:56:22,480
Speaker 1: were full, and and that's very different. Today it's not

1072
00:56:22,560 --> 00:56:24,600
Speaker 1: like that, and you have a lot of people saying,

1073
00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:26,719
Speaker 1: you know, well, I wish it was like it used

1074
00:56:26,719 --> 00:56:28,719
Speaker 1: to be in deer season is so different, you know,

1075
00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:31,520
Speaker 1: nobody hunts anymore. Well, the reality of it is, we're

1076
00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:33,960
Speaker 1: killing more deer in my area of Pennsylvania today than

1077
00:56:34,040 --> 00:56:36,719
Speaker 1: we used to. It just rather than happening over two

1078
00:56:36,719 --> 00:56:39,680
Speaker 1: week period, today, it happens over a three month period.

1079
00:56:40,200 --> 00:56:43,600
Speaker 1: So uh, anybody, particularly not so much as south because

1080
00:56:43,600 --> 00:56:46,160
Speaker 1: Southerners have, you know, much longer hunting seasons, but for

1081
00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:49,360
Speaker 1: us in the North that have very short, intense firearm seasons,

1082
00:56:50,040 --> 00:56:52,600
Speaker 1: in many cases, they are very different today because some

1083
00:56:52,680 --> 00:56:55,600
Speaker 1: of our buddies, you know, are filling those tags earlier

1084
00:56:55,640 --> 00:56:57,640
Speaker 1: in the year during archery season, and it gives us

1085
00:56:57,640 --> 00:57:00,480
Speaker 1: the appearance that hunting is not as important. Uh, that's

1086
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:03,040
Speaker 1: not the case at all. It's just taken advantage of

1087
00:57:03,120 --> 00:57:06,839
Speaker 1: much longer opportunities than we used to have. Yeah, Yeah,

1088
00:57:06,880 --> 00:57:10,880
Speaker 1: I've wondered about this, and I've wondered if we maybe

1089
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:13,840
Speaker 1: it would be interesting to look at a measurement of

1090
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:17,480
Speaker 1: hunter days, So not just the number of unique people

1091
00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:19,840
Speaker 1: that hunt in a given year, but if we looked

1092
00:57:19,880 --> 00:57:24,760
Speaker 1: at how many days hunted. I'm I'm guessing I'm gonna

1093
00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:28,280
Speaker 1: I'm curious if that number has actually gone up. So

1094
00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:32,120
Speaker 1: while over the last years we've seen a number in

1095
00:57:32,360 --> 00:57:37,680
Speaker 1: license buying hunters, my intuition tells me that thirty years ago,

1096
00:57:38,040 --> 00:57:41,600
Speaker 1: while we had however many hunters, million hunters, or whatever

1097
00:57:41,600 --> 00:57:43,880
Speaker 1: it was, my guess is that the average number of

1098
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:47,080
Speaker 1: days hunted by those people was much lower than the

1099
00:57:47,160 --> 00:57:50,320
Speaker 1: average number of days hunted by people now today, at

1100
00:57:50,360 --> 00:57:52,720
Speaker 1: least some percentage of hunters today, Because I get the

1101
00:57:52,760 --> 00:57:57,160
Speaker 1: feeling that there's a lot more people today that view

1102
00:57:57,280 --> 00:58:01,840
Speaker 1: hunting as a lifestyle where they dedicate vacation time and

1103
00:58:01,880 --> 00:58:05,560
Speaker 1: weekends and and all that to spending significant, significant amounts

1104
00:58:05,600 --> 00:58:07,560
Speaker 1: of time outside. So I think that that number of

1105
00:58:07,560 --> 00:58:10,320
Speaker 1: people who spends you know, ten to fifteen days hunting

1106
00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:13,520
Speaker 1: or more, it's probably a lot higher now than it

1107
00:58:13,640 --> 00:58:17,080
Speaker 1: was thirty years ago. So that's that's an assumption. That's

1108
00:58:17,920 --> 00:58:20,280
Speaker 1: maybe I'm too much in that world, and I'm assuming

1109
00:58:20,320 --> 00:58:22,000
Speaker 1: more people are like the people I talked to. But

1110
00:58:22,360 --> 00:58:23,720
Speaker 1: I wonder if that's the case. I don't know if

1111
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:27,360
Speaker 1: have you ever thought about that or heard anything about that? Kip, Yeah, now,

1112
00:58:27,400 --> 00:58:30,160
Speaker 1: and you're exactly right. We did a national survey a

1113
00:58:30,200 --> 00:58:32,520
Speaker 1: couple of years ago to just see with stage, you know,

1114
00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:34,920
Speaker 1: what was the average number of days that folks on

1115
00:58:34,960 --> 00:58:39,240
Speaker 1: deer hunted a year, and the national averages around fourteen days. Uh.

1116
00:58:39,320 --> 00:58:41,480
Speaker 1: We did the same survey of at that point it

1117
00:58:41,520 --> 00:58:43,960
Speaker 1: was QTMA members, you know, before we became the National

1118
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:47,360
Speaker 1: Deer Association, and and our members hunted on average it

1119
00:58:47,440 --> 00:58:49,600
Speaker 1: was thirty days a year. So we want and doubled

1120
00:58:50,200 --> 00:58:54,960
Speaker 1: the national average. But so you are right, today the

1121
00:58:55,040 --> 00:58:58,440
Speaker 1: average person just spent far more time available, partly because

1122
00:58:58,720 --> 00:59:01,439
Speaker 1: bag limits tend to be more liberal, there's a lot

1123
00:59:01,520 --> 00:59:04,520
Speaker 1: more opportunity season why so, yeah, people are spending a

1124
00:59:04,520 --> 00:59:06,960
Speaker 1: lot more time in the woods. And this year as

1125
00:59:07,040 --> 00:59:10,560
Speaker 1: part of our report, we asked states about, you know,

1126
00:59:10,600 --> 00:59:13,600
Speaker 1: the number of days that there they folks could archery

1127
00:59:13,680 --> 00:59:16,960
Speaker 1: hut in their state, UH, muzzleloader hout and fire arm

1128
00:59:17,040 --> 00:59:19,120
Speaker 1: hut and then whether the total number of days you

1129
00:59:19,160 --> 00:59:21,840
Speaker 1: know was more less or similar to what it was

1130
00:59:21,920 --> 00:59:25,840
Speaker 1: ten years ago. And uh, opportunities are far more today

1131
00:59:25,880 --> 00:59:28,160
Speaker 1: than what they were a decade ago. UM. With the

1132
00:59:28,160 --> 00:59:30,640
Speaker 1: exception of the Western states and the and all of

1133
00:59:30,640 --> 00:59:33,960
Speaker 1: those have similar number of days of deer hunting available

1134
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:38,440
Speaker 1: today to a decade ago. UM. Many of the states,

1135
00:59:38,720 --> 00:59:40,720
Speaker 1: and I should say the majority of the states in

1136
00:59:40,960 --> 00:59:45,520
Speaker 1: the northeast, the southeast, and the Midwest have more opportunity,

1137
00:59:45,960 --> 00:59:49,080
Speaker 1: more total number of days available to deer hut today

1138
00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:51,800
Speaker 1: than they did a decade ago. So yeah, so there's

1139
00:59:51,800 --> 00:59:54,760
Speaker 1: more opportunity. Hunters are taken advantage of it and and

1140
00:59:54,880 --> 00:59:58,640
Speaker 1: greatly spreading that total deer harvest out over longer period

1141
00:59:58,680 --> 01:00:02,320
Speaker 1: of time. Yeah, it's an interesting it's an interesting trend.

1142
01:00:02,360 --> 01:00:07,120
Speaker 1: And it's also I think part of why some hunters

1143
01:00:07,160 --> 01:00:11,920
Speaker 1: are confused by the data that we see that shows like, hey,

1144
01:00:11,960 --> 01:00:14,400
Speaker 1: hunter participation is going down, it's going down. They keep

1145
01:00:14,440 --> 01:00:16,760
Speaker 1: seeing those headlines and hearing that, but then when they

1146
01:00:16,800 --> 01:00:19,480
Speaker 1: go to the woods, they feel like, man, there's more

1147
01:00:19,560 --> 01:00:22,240
Speaker 1: hunters than ever I'm getting. You know, it's harder to

1148
01:00:22,240 --> 01:00:24,320
Speaker 1: find places to hunt, it's harder to get anywhere where

1149
01:00:24,320 --> 01:00:26,360
Speaker 1: there's not other people. And my guess is that it's

1150
01:00:26,400 --> 01:00:29,520
Speaker 1: because of this. While there's maybe fewer total people, there's

1151
01:00:29,600 --> 01:00:34,480
Speaker 1: higher participation from that group, and so, UH, that might

1152
01:00:34,520 --> 01:00:37,720
Speaker 1: be part of why pressure wise it it can feel

1153
01:00:37,960 --> 01:00:41,360
Speaker 1: like there's more people out there. UM, it's maybe an

1154
01:00:41,400 --> 01:00:44,000
Speaker 1: optical illusion just based off of the intensity of the

1155
01:00:44,000 --> 01:00:47,200
Speaker 1: people that do participate in the fact that, UM, there's

1156
01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:51,920
Speaker 1: more opportunity. People are getting into this lifestyle more passionately

1157
01:00:51,960 --> 01:00:54,360
Speaker 1: than maybe in the past, and and that's that's what

1158
01:00:54,440 --> 01:01:01,120
Speaker 1: we're experiencing. Maybe. So it's interesting, UM what what kept?

1159
01:01:01,520 --> 01:01:08,120
Speaker 1: The report ends with an overview of some of the

1160
01:01:08,120 --> 01:01:12,200
Speaker 1: the top kind of legislative winds or the top issues

1161
01:01:12,320 --> 01:01:15,280
Speaker 1: that you guys as an organization have focused on and

1162
01:01:15,360 --> 01:01:20,000
Speaker 1: been working on. UM. I know that the National Deer

1163
01:01:20,000 --> 01:01:23,760
Speaker 1: Association and you personally have been involved with a lot

1164
01:01:23,800 --> 01:01:28,800
Speaker 1: of different UH issues, advocacy opportunities that are that are

1165
01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:32,680
Speaker 1: working towards, you know, fighting for deer and deer habitat

1166
01:01:32,760 --> 01:01:35,840
Speaker 1: and deer hunters. When you look back at are there

1167
01:01:35,840 --> 01:01:37,520
Speaker 1: a couple of things that stand out to you as

1168
01:01:37,680 --> 01:01:42,320
Speaker 1: as the most substantial or encouraging winds on that front

1169
01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:45,400
Speaker 1: that you want to make sure we know about. Yeah,

1170
01:01:45,440 --> 01:01:47,240
Speaker 1: I think one of them is that you know all

1171
01:01:47,280 --> 01:01:50,640
Speaker 1: of the Pittman robertson dollars and that that's the excise

1172
01:01:50,680 --> 01:01:53,280
Speaker 1: tax on the hunting equipment that we buy. UM. Many

1173
01:01:53,360 --> 01:01:55,600
Speaker 1: hunters have ever realized us. They are just built into

1174
01:01:55,600 --> 01:01:58,320
Speaker 1: the price you pay that goes back to help fund

1175
01:01:58,360 --> 01:02:01,480
Speaker 1: our wildlife programs. UM. One of the biggest wins is

1176
01:02:01,520 --> 01:02:03,760
Speaker 1: that now some of those dollars can be used to

1177
01:02:03,840 --> 01:02:06,200
Speaker 1: help with the R three efforts, and and our three

1178
01:02:06,280 --> 01:02:10,200
Speaker 1: is recruitment, so it's hunter recruitment and hunter retention and

1179
01:02:10,280 --> 01:02:14,720
Speaker 1: hunter reactivation UM. Now for the first time ever, some

1180
01:02:14,840 --> 01:02:17,040
Speaker 1: of those Pittman robbers and dollars could be used to

1181
01:02:17,160 --> 01:02:20,040
Speaker 1: help support that our three movement, which helps with our

1182
01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:23,040
Speaker 1: hunter numbers UM. And to the casual hunter, that might

1183
01:02:23,080 --> 01:02:25,439
Speaker 1: not seem like much, but that was a huge win,

1184
01:02:25,760 --> 01:02:28,880
Speaker 1: a huge, huge win for for conservation and for the

1185
01:02:28,920 --> 01:02:31,800
Speaker 1: future of deer hunting. So, uh, you know, there there

1186
01:02:31,840 --> 01:02:34,120
Speaker 1: was a lot of state specific things that you know,

1187
01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:37,760
Speaker 1: opened public land and gotten more hunter access and that

1188
01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:40,920
Speaker 1: type of thing, but big scale or large scale of

1189
01:02:41,240 --> 01:02:44,479
Speaker 1: man the opportunity to use those PR dollars to help

1190
01:02:44,760 --> 01:02:47,720
Speaker 1: support the future of hunting was a really really big

1191
01:02:47,720 --> 01:02:50,080
Speaker 1: thing and something we were extremely proud to help be

1192
01:02:50,120 --> 01:02:53,920
Speaker 1: a part of. That's awesome. Yeah, again, speaking to the

1193
01:02:53,960 --> 01:02:58,640
Speaker 1: importance of of help building our base of participants and supporters,

1194
01:02:59,160 --> 01:03:03,280
Speaker 1: all those recruitment and our three initiatives are are important

1195
01:03:03,280 --> 01:03:06,360
Speaker 1: to do that. So that's that's huge. What about? What about?

1196
01:03:08,120 --> 01:03:10,800
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you are really paying attention to

1197
01:03:11,040 --> 01:03:13,120
Speaker 1: or that you would encourage us to really pay attention

1198
01:03:13,160 --> 01:03:15,280
Speaker 1: to or to get involved in when it comes to

1199
01:03:15,960 --> 01:03:20,080
Speaker 1: issues or legislation or something we need to be uh,

1200
01:03:20,320 --> 01:03:24,800
Speaker 1: you know, sending emails and letters and pounded ondoors about. Yeah.

1201
01:03:24,920 --> 01:03:26,720
Speaker 1: I'm just this past week I thought that, you know,

1202
01:03:26,760 --> 01:03:28,760
Speaker 1: there was a bill it was dropped in Oklahoma for

1203
01:03:28,800 --> 01:03:32,320
Speaker 1: a big foot hunting season that is one that we

1204
01:03:32,360 --> 01:03:35,480
Speaker 1: are watching. Oh boy, No, you know, I bring that

1205
01:03:35,600 --> 01:03:38,640
Speaker 1: up partly because I think, you know, it's a lot

1206
01:03:38,640 --> 01:03:40,560
Speaker 1: of hunters saw that and you don't kind of joke

1207
01:03:40,600 --> 01:03:45,000
Speaker 1: about it. But obviously people can look at that and say, WHOA,

1208
01:03:45,080 --> 01:03:48,920
Speaker 1: that's really out there relative to hunting. But it's amazing

1209
01:03:48,960 --> 01:03:51,680
Speaker 1: the number of other bills in states that you know,

1210
01:03:51,880 --> 01:03:54,360
Speaker 1: they don't have big foot attached to it, that are

1211
01:03:54,520 --> 01:03:58,000
Speaker 1: really bad, bad bills for for hunting or for the

1212
01:03:58,040 --> 01:04:01,000
Speaker 1: future of conservation that the average hunter doesn't know about.

1213
01:04:01,120 --> 01:04:04,400
Speaker 1: So um. While they may not be associated, you know,

1214
01:04:04,520 --> 01:04:06,840
Speaker 1: with the with the yetie or anything like that, it

1215
01:04:07,120 --> 01:04:09,919
Speaker 1: uh we fight very hard on those and we try

1216
01:04:09,960 --> 01:04:13,000
Speaker 1: to make those available to hunters. Um So. We're really

1217
01:04:13,080 --> 01:04:15,560
Speaker 1: just now getting into the legislative season. You know, a

1218
01:04:15,560 --> 01:04:18,360
Speaker 1: lot of legislatures are getting back in session and a

1219
01:04:18,360 --> 01:04:20,960
Speaker 1: lot of deer hunting related bills are just starting to

1220
01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:23,919
Speaker 1: pop up. But I've seen some come across my desk

1221
01:04:23,960 --> 01:04:27,520
Speaker 1: about the legalizing the venison sales. You know that that

1222
01:04:27,680 --> 01:04:30,040
Speaker 1: is a huge or is going to be a huge bill.

1223
01:04:30,120 --> 01:04:33,480
Speaker 1: This is out of Maryland. Um uh So in a

1224
01:04:33,520 --> 01:04:36,080
Speaker 1: handful of others that are like that that that we're

1225
01:04:36,080 --> 01:04:38,640
Speaker 1: gonna be weighing very heavily on in the near future.

1226
01:04:38,840 --> 01:04:41,880
Speaker 1: So um. From a hunting perspective, there's a lot of

1227
01:04:41,880 --> 01:04:43,840
Speaker 1: deer hunters out there, you know that they just aren't

1228
01:04:43,880 --> 01:04:46,560
Speaker 1: into the advocacy end and uh and I totally get it.

1229
01:04:46,760 --> 01:04:49,200
Speaker 1: So they can at least rest assured knowing that there

1230
01:04:49,240 --> 01:04:52,040
Speaker 1: are organizations out there like n d A and and

1231
01:04:52,040 --> 01:04:55,280
Speaker 1: and many others that are fighting on their behalf and

1232
01:04:55,360 --> 01:04:58,280
Speaker 1: keeping track of all that legislative stuff. So we'll let

1233
01:04:58,280 --> 01:05:01,080
Speaker 1: our members and others know of opera just to engage

1234
01:05:01,120 --> 01:05:03,920
Speaker 1: and on a whole plethora of bills and you know

1235
01:05:03,960 --> 01:05:06,680
Speaker 1: what our stances whether we support or oppose that stuff,

1236
01:05:06,720 --> 01:05:09,240
Speaker 1: and give them a chance to engage two if they

1237
01:05:09,280 --> 01:05:15,200
Speaker 1: want ye. So, so Kip, I would venture to say, um,

1238
01:05:15,240 --> 01:05:19,080
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna make this claim whether I'm um,

1239
01:05:20,080 --> 01:05:22,440
Speaker 1: whether anyone's granting me this power or not, but I

1240
01:05:22,480 --> 01:05:29,600
Speaker 1: will say that today in two Thoe, to be a

1241
01:05:29,680 --> 01:05:35,240
Speaker 1: upstanding member of the deer hunting community no longer means

1242
01:05:35,320 --> 01:05:37,320
Speaker 1: you can just go out there and shoot a deer

1243
01:05:37,360 --> 01:05:41,320
Speaker 1: or two a year. I would say that today it

1244
01:05:41,640 --> 01:05:47,480
Speaker 1: should be a requirement. And of course no one's actually

1245
01:05:47,480 --> 01:05:50,760
Speaker 1: going to um require this, but I'm going to say

1246
01:05:50,800 --> 01:05:52,640
Speaker 1: that in your own head, you should think of it

1247
01:05:52,720 --> 01:05:57,440
Speaker 1: as a requirement to be an informed hunter and an

1248
01:05:57,480 --> 01:06:00,560
Speaker 1: advocate for what we're doing, because if we want to

1249
01:06:00,560 --> 01:06:02,200
Speaker 1: be able to keep hunting, and if we want to

1250
01:06:02,200 --> 01:06:06,400
Speaker 1: be able to keep this lifestyle out there, we need

1251
01:06:06,440 --> 01:06:08,600
Speaker 1: to be a participant in making that a reality. We

1252
01:06:08,640 --> 01:06:11,520
Speaker 1: can't just depend on people like you, Kip. We can't

1253
01:06:11,520 --> 01:06:14,000
Speaker 1: just point to that other person to take care of

1254
01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:16,120
Speaker 1: the stuff. It's on all of us. We have a

1255
01:06:16,200 --> 01:06:19,720
Speaker 1: responsibility to to contribute to the future of deer and

1256
01:06:19,720 --> 01:06:22,560
Speaker 1: deer hunting and wild places. My argument is that as

1257
01:06:22,560 --> 01:06:25,920
Speaker 1: an individual responsibility as much it is the responsibility of

1258
01:06:25,920 --> 01:06:29,000
Speaker 1: an organization like the n d A. So if we will,

1259
01:06:29,080 --> 01:06:30,880
Speaker 1: if people will bear with me on this and and

1260
01:06:31,200 --> 01:06:33,440
Speaker 1: take that to be truth as I believe it to be,

1261
01:06:34,080 --> 01:06:38,040
Speaker 1: what would your top action items be for a deer

1262
01:06:38,080 --> 01:06:40,880
Speaker 1: hunter in two thousand twenty one? Kit maybe one or

1263
01:06:40,920 --> 01:06:44,000
Speaker 1: two things that ever one of us can take action

1264
01:06:44,040 --> 01:06:46,440
Speaker 1: on this year in some kind of way to be

1265
01:06:46,680 --> 01:06:51,560
Speaker 1: an informed and active member of this deer hunting community.

1266
01:06:53,560 --> 01:06:56,520
Speaker 1: I wholeheartedly support what you are saying their Mark, I

1267
01:06:56,560 --> 01:06:59,280
Speaker 1: agree with that and uh and I will add my

1268
01:06:59,400 --> 01:07:02,160
Speaker 1: part to that. Does I think that the absolutely should

1269
01:07:02,280 --> 01:07:06,040
Speaker 1: join a conservation organization of his or her choosing that

1270
01:07:06,160 --> 01:07:08,920
Speaker 1: most closely fights for for what they would like as

1271
01:07:09,000 --> 01:07:11,440
Speaker 1: deer hunters. A certainly hope that folks would join the

1272
01:07:11,520 --> 01:07:14,480
Speaker 1: National Deer Association, But if you choose to not join us,

1273
01:07:14,600 --> 01:07:18,000
Speaker 1: join somebody else, you know, another organization that is fighting

1274
01:07:18,480 --> 01:07:20,840
Speaker 1: to keep you know, deer on the landscape and to

1275
01:07:20,920 --> 01:07:24,400
Speaker 1: keep dear healthy and to provide opportunities for to you know,

1276
01:07:24,480 --> 01:07:26,840
Speaker 1: to go afield and hunt them. So I think one

1277
01:07:27,600 --> 01:07:31,240
Speaker 1: join to help support that. And number two is we

1278
01:07:31,320 --> 01:07:34,480
Speaker 1: have to change the culture around hunting from just being

1279
01:07:34,840 --> 01:07:37,520
Speaker 1: a consumer thing that we do to seeing it as

1280
01:07:37,600 --> 01:07:40,920
Speaker 1: our responsibility to to mentor the next generation of hunters.

1281
01:07:41,320 --> 01:07:44,000
Speaker 1: So I think that every single hunter out there today

1282
01:07:44,000 --> 01:07:46,560
Speaker 1: should look at it as his or her job to

1283
01:07:46,840 --> 01:07:50,000
Speaker 1: expose somebody new to hunting and then to teach and

1284
01:07:50,120 --> 01:07:52,880
Speaker 1: to mentor them. Might be once a year, maybe five

1285
01:07:52,920 --> 01:07:55,280
Speaker 1: times a year, you know, whatever you can do, and

1286
01:07:55,320 --> 01:07:58,680
Speaker 1: then next year do it again expose somebody else. So

1287
01:07:59,320 --> 01:08:01,400
Speaker 1: I think that is the way that we will win,

1288
01:08:01,920 --> 01:08:05,880
Speaker 1: you know, the long term game relative to managing wildlife

1289
01:08:05,880 --> 01:08:08,400
Speaker 1: and making sure that that hunting has looked at as

1290
01:08:08,440 --> 01:08:13,160
Speaker 1: a necessary uh recreation in the United States. We need

1291
01:08:13,280 --> 01:08:16,479
Speaker 1: hunters to the harvest white tail deer. We need hunters

1292
01:08:16,720 --> 01:08:21,160
Speaker 1: to support wildlife programs largely through purchases of funding equipment.

1293
01:08:21,280 --> 01:08:24,680
Speaker 1: So those are my big things. Join an organization and

1294
01:08:24,760 --> 01:08:28,040
Speaker 1: mentor somebody takes somebody a field and teach them what

1295
01:08:28,080 --> 01:08:31,000
Speaker 1: it is to be a steward of our natural resources.

1296
01:08:31,360 --> 01:08:33,599
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm I'm right there with the kid.

1297
01:08:33,840 --> 01:08:36,439
Speaker 1: So my last question for you is this, if there's

1298
01:08:36,680 --> 01:08:41,120
Speaker 1: anyone listening today who has been, you know, inspired in

1299
01:08:41,160 --> 01:08:44,360
Speaker 1: some way or reminded of, you know, a desire to

1300
01:08:44,439 --> 01:08:49,280
Speaker 1: become a more active conservationist in some kind of way,

1301
01:08:49,360 --> 01:08:51,559
Speaker 1: taking some kind of more active role in the types

1302
01:08:51,560 --> 01:08:54,639
Speaker 1: of things we're discussing today. Um, and if they want

1303
01:08:54,720 --> 01:08:58,840
Speaker 1: to pursue that a little bit more this year, where

1304
01:08:58,840 --> 01:09:01,200
Speaker 1: would you send them for inspiration? I get a lot

1305
01:09:01,200 --> 01:09:03,040
Speaker 1: of people who say, you know, I read your book,

1306
01:09:03,080 --> 01:09:05,320
Speaker 1: or I heard this thing, or I learned about this thing.

1307
01:09:05,640 --> 01:09:07,439
Speaker 1: You know, what should I read next? Or what should

1308
01:09:07,439 --> 01:09:09,479
Speaker 1: I watch next? Or what should I listen to next?

1309
01:09:09,560 --> 01:09:12,960
Speaker 1: Is there anything out there that you would encourage folks

1310
01:09:13,000 --> 01:09:16,360
Speaker 1: too to read or or watch or listen to or

1311
01:09:16,640 --> 01:09:19,840
Speaker 1: explore some kind of I don't know what what? What's

1312
01:09:19,880 --> 01:09:23,559
Speaker 1: something that pops to mind when I mentioned that? Well,

1313
01:09:23,560 --> 01:09:27,679
Speaker 1: the first thing is is is our website. We provide

1314
01:09:27,720 --> 01:09:30,759
Speaker 1: so much information from everything from the brand new casual

1315
01:09:30,800 --> 01:09:34,160
Speaker 1: hunter up to experienced hunters. Would we purposely try to

1316
01:09:34,200 --> 01:09:37,240
Speaker 1: provide information either on our website or our YouTube channel

1317
01:09:37,560 --> 01:09:40,599
Speaker 1: that that can fill the need that that that hunter wants.

1318
01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:44,200
Speaker 1: So I've got to encourage the folks to check out

1319
01:09:44,240 --> 01:09:46,400
Speaker 1: our stuff. But in addition to that, there are so

1320
01:09:46,439 --> 01:09:49,519
Speaker 1: many resources out there today, and I think people should

1321
01:09:49,520 --> 01:09:51,120
Speaker 1: take a look at how they most prefer to get

1322
01:09:51,160 --> 01:09:54,920
Speaker 1: that from. From a podcast standpoint, there's all kinds of

1323
01:09:54,920 --> 01:09:57,519
Speaker 1: information if people like to get it by listening, you know,

1324
01:09:57,640 --> 01:10:01,559
Speaker 1: your podcast obviously U a great opportunity of the Meat

1325
01:10:01,560 --> 01:10:05,519
Speaker 1: Eater podcast. All kinds of information out there for folks.

1326
01:10:05,760 --> 01:10:08,880
Speaker 1: There's also more opportunity than ever before to to receive

1327
01:10:08,920 --> 01:10:12,040
Speaker 1: information and in short videos, you know, on YouTube. It's

1328
01:10:12,080 --> 01:10:14,560
Speaker 1: amazing the number of different channels that I take a

1329
01:10:14,560 --> 01:10:18,800
Speaker 1: look at and watch and following and learn myself. So, UM,

1330
01:10:19,040 --> 01:10:21,880
Speaker 1: I don't know. Rather than saying a specific name or

1331
01:10:21,960 --> 01:10:24,720
Speaker 1: specific place, I think it's it's it's a good thing

1332
01:10:24,720 --> 01:10:27,400
Speaker 1: for people to realize that however you'd like to receive

1333
01:10:27,400 --> 01:10:31,360
Speaker 1: that information, it is there for you today at unprecedented levels.

1334
01:10:31,360 --> 01:10:34,400
Speaker 1: So if you're a magazine reader, or a newspaper reader

1335
01:10:34,479 --> 01:10:36,880
Speaker 1: or whatever that is. It is there, so just it

1336
01:10:36,920 --> 01:10:39,040
Speaker 1: doesn't take much digging to do to be able to

1337
01:10:39,040 --> 01:10:43,320
Speaker 1: find it. And uh, I'm a big fan of being

1338
01:10:43,479 --> 01:10:45,840
Speaker 1: a voracious reader. I tell my kids that I tell

1339
01:10:45,880 --> 01:10:47,880
Speaker 1: folks that I work with that, you know, there's nothing

1340
01:10:47,880 --> 01:10:49,960
Speaker 1: that we can do from a hunting perspective to be

1341
01:10:50,120 --> 01:10:53,160
Speaker 1: more engaged or to help hunting and to make sure

1342
01:10:53,200 --> 01:10:55,280
Speaker 1: that we are informed so that you know, when we

1343
01:10:55,320 --> 01:10:57,880
Speaker 1: talk with our hunting buddies or our our state wilife

1344
01:10:57,920 --> 01:11:01,200
Speaker 1: agencies or conservation officers, whatever is, you know, if we're

1345
01:11:01,240 --> 01:11:03,960
Speaker 1: more informed about it, we can make a more positive

1346
01:11:04,000 --> 01:11:07,479
Speaker 1: impact to the future. So so read, learn, watch however

1347
01:11:07,520 --> 01:11:10,879
Speaker 1: you want to get it, but be informed and impact

1348
01:11:10,880 --> 01:11:13,960
Speaker 1: Dear positively in your community. Can we get a book

1349
01:11:13,960 --> 01:11:18,800
Speaker 1: recommendation from you? Any book related to I like that?

1350
01:11:18,920 --> 01:11:24,599
Speaker 1: But they don't you don't need a can Okay, I'll

1351
01:11:24,680 --> 01:11:27,479
Speaker 1: let that stand and and certainly will encourage people to

1352
01:11:27,520 --> 01:11:31,000
Speaker 1: read that one. Um. Well, KI, what about lastly? Here

1353
01:11:31,520 --> 01:11:34,360
Speaker 1: people that want to become a member of the NDA

1354
01:11:34,560 --> 01:11:36,920
Speaker 1: or learn more, where can they go to do that?

1355
01:11:38,479 --> 01:11:40,840
Speaker 1: They can go right to our website which is Dear

1356
01:11:40,920 --> 01:11:44,360
Speaker 1: Association Dot com and they can join there and if

1357
01:11:44,360 --> 01:11:46,000
Speaker 1: they want to take a little test drive and just

1358
01:11:46,040 --> 01:11:49,799
Speaker 1: see what is there first, there's all kinds of information available,

1359
01:11:49,840 --> 01:11:53,280
Speaker 1: you know on honey or habitat management or dear biology

1360
01:11:53,320 --> 01:11:55,320
Speaker 1: or whatever the case is, that they can look through

1361
01:11:55,400 --> 01:11:57,720
Speaker 1: that and realize or see if hey, if I think

1362
01:11:57,760 --> 01:11:59,479
Speaker 1: this is for me or not, and then and then

1363
01:11:59,520 --> 01:12:03,959
Speaker 1: makes a choice after that. Perfect alright, Kip, Well, as always,

1364
01:12:04,000 --> 01:12:06,479
Speaker 1: I really appreciate taking the time to to walk through

1365
01:12:06,520 --> 01:12:09,559
Speaker 1: this stuff with us and and share your perspective and

1366
01:12:09,560 --> 01:12:11,639
Speaker 1: and and all the work you put into putting together

1367
01:12:11,680 --> 01:12:13,760
Speaker 1: the white the Deer Report, not the white Tail Report

1368
01:12:13,800 --> 01:12:15,720
Speaker 1: and more the Deer Report this year. Thank you for

1369
01:12:16,439 --> 01:12:19,479
Speaker 1: you know, sussling through all this data and giving us

1370
01:12:19,560 --> 01:12:22,800
Speaker 1: some really important highlights. So I appreciate it, and uh

1371
01:12:23,000 --> 01:12:26,440
Speaker 1: looking forward to doing it again in a year. Absolutely,

1372
01:12:26,439 --> 01:12:28,280
Speaker 1: Mark my pleasure. Always good to talk with you about

1373
01:12:28,360 --> 01:12:31,040
Speaker 1: you have a great day. Thank you too. All right,

1374
01:12:31,400 --> 01:12:34,799
Speaker 1: that's a wrap for today. Thank you for tuning in. Uh,

1375
01:12:34,920 --> 01:12:37,400
Speaker 1: you know, I'd be remiss if I let the opportunity

1376
01:12:37,400 --> 01:12:41,040
Speaker 1: to slip away. Kip did recommend my book That Wild Country,

1377
01:12:41,320 --> 01:12:44,639
Speaker 1: which is for sale on places such as the Meat

1378
01:12:44,680 --> 01:12:48,400
Speaker 1: Either website or Amazon, or from a lot of local bookstories.

1379
01:12:48,439 --> 01:12:50,120
Speaker 1: You can get a lot of these online, check them out.

1380
01:12:50,160 --> 01:12:54,519
Speaker 1: I certainly appreciate your support. It was probably the hardest

1381
01:12:54,520 --> 01:12:56,720
Speaker 1: thing I've ever done, the most work I've ever put

1382
01:12:56,800 --> 01:12:59,800
Speaker 1: into anything. So you're continued support and picking up a

1383
01:12:59,840 --> 01:13:03,439
Speaker 1: copy or buying a gift for someone, Man, it means

1384
01:13:03,479 --> 01:13:06,840
Speaker 1: the world. I honestly can't tell you how much that

1385
01:13:06,880 --> 01:13:09,360
Speaker 1: means to me, So thank you in advance, and thanks

1386
01:13:09,360 --> 01:13:11,519
Speaker 1: for listening, thanks for being a part of this whole thing.

1387
01:13:11,520 --> 01:13:13,280
Speaker 1: We've been doing it wired to Hunt for a lot

1388
01:13:13,320 --> 01:13:16,080
Speaker 1: of years now and hope to continue doing for many

1389
01:13:16,160 --> 01:13:20,080
Speaker 1: years to come. So until then, thank you and stay

1390
01:13:20,400 --> 01:13:21,880
Speaker 1: Wired to Hunt.