Seminar on managing deer set for Oct. 19

The Missouri Depart-ment of Conservation will host a Whitetail Deer Management seminar in the Nevada High School auditorium on Tuesday, Oct. 19, from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Department of Conservation personnel will present information on several aspects of deer management. Biologists will use PowerPoint presentations and discussion to inform the audience about using food plots and other effective ways to manage deer habitat.

Whitetail diet and nutrition is another topic that will be covered and listeners will learn the importance of providing for the nutritional needs of deer throughout the year, not just during hunting season and winter.

Barton County wildlife management biologist Dave Darrow will help those attending understand the chronology of the whitetail rut or breeding season. His presentation will feature information on timing, phases and other useful knowledge.

Biologists will have posters to illustrate how to age a deer, and there will be some brochures available on some of the information covered during the evening. The aging posters can be examined during the break in the seminar so listeners can have their questions answered.

Other topics covered will be quality deer management. In a nutshell, that means learning the difference between a quality deer and a trophy deer and how managing for quality animals benefits the deer herd. Deer census techniques will be discussed and so will the formation of deer management cooperatives. The cooperative idea is get land owners to band together to manage the deer in a large area since it is very difficult to do on a small parcel of land, according to Scott Sudkamp of the MDC.

In addition to all of that, there will be a question and answer session and a door prize will be awarded to the participant who comes closest to guessing the actual score of a whitetail antlers.

For more information, call (417) 667-8137 ext. 128.