The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is beginning a five-year research project in6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at the Empire Prairie Community Building in Andrew County. The workshop location is eight miles west of King City on Missouri 48, about one-quarter mile west of the Missouri 48 and Route PP intersection.
This study will begin in January and is being done in partnership with the University of Missouri at Columbia (UMC). The study will include monitoring deer of all ages and sex. Biologists will capture and place GPS tracking collars and small metal ear tags on deer, which will be immediately released. Hunters will be encouraged to harvest deer as normal in study areas, including those with collars.
Plans call for lands to be utilized in the study area in Nodaway, Gentry, Andrew and DeKalb counties. Concurrently, a similar study will occur in Douglass, Howell, Texas and Wright counties in the southern Missouri Ozarks. The two studies will give biologists a look at trends in deer populations in both the agriculture areas of north Missouri and the timber-dominated areas of the Ozarks.
MDC utilizes several sources of data to monitor deer populations in the state. That information enables science-based decisions for deer hunting seasons and harvest limits. The new deer survival, reproduction and movement study will provide an even broader data base for MDC biologists to use for decisions about deer management. This will be one of the largest white-tail deer research projects in the nation and is being funded with assistance from Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Funds.
Landowners interested in allowing deer trapping on their property may contact Jon McRoberts, UMC project leader, at mcrobertsj@missouri.edu or 573-881-1978.
For information about deer management in Missouri, contact Emily Flinn, MDC deer biologist,emily.flinn@mdc.mo.gov or 573-815-7901, ext. 3619.
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