The QDMA....

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Active Member
Not trying to stir argument, but I am wondering if anybody has gone back to the QDMA or maybe never left.....remembering that this forum started when they scrapped their forum with little notice and most of the original members here, like me, scrapped their membership.

I dang near forgot about them but lately their adds/articles keep turning up on my facebook, etc.

What I am wondering, is the current status of the magazine. Every now and then they used to have an incredible issue, followed by several that were lukewarm at best. Eventually it seemed to devolve into a social club. Now I haven't got it 3-4 years wondering if it has picked up, continued to drop off, or stayed the same.
 
As I have confessed before, I still get their weekly email and go straight to the “Age This” because I like to pit my age guessing talents, (or lack of) against the “experts”. Near as I can guess, I’m about 80/85% right.

I don’t remember being a member of the forum, but I did do a little reading there. The first I knew about it closing was reading about it on Bowsite.com. Folks were hot to say the least.......
 
They, and most other "conservation groups" have become echo chambers for state game agencies. They no longer exist to protect the resources they claim to protect. They now exist to protect the state game agencies. Look no further than their unwillingness to challenge anything anywhere while, state by state, game lords are snuffing out the whitetail. It used to make me angry, but their relevancy is about up.

Information is moving faster than it ever has, and they do not have a lock of that info. These forums have short circuited the BS of advertising and product placement within stories. Once the corporate money dries up, these outfits will fold, because the member dues won't be there.
 
Hate to be redundant about QDM Ahole organization but as I've said many a time they can go.... themselves. I'd rather have another prostate exam than sleep with those conniving , selfish, selfcentered, money mongers that they are. No offense Readonly, but you asked and I think you can interpret my answer . And that's all I have to say about that to quote Forrest.
 
I still have my membership. I do enjoy the articles in their magazine. Although I attended the first meeting of our local branch and helped organize it I have switched my membership to a branch in the county just north of me. The leadership in our local branch has taken a path I don't support.
I attend the banquets at the branch north of me along with my wife, son and daughter and their significant others.
The last news I heard about National is 4 of their employees have been dismissed because they were not certified deer bioligists. One of these employees had been our local regional director for some time before he got transferred to another area and did a great job for QDMA.
Lynn
 
I will NEVER go back. For those that are members that read this....please understand I have no ill will against their members. I have met a lot of great people thru my networking in one way or another thru that organization before the fall-out. I have a lot of faith in the practice of QDM, I simply lost my faith in the A "association".....I don't NEED the "A" for QDM to work.

I don't need some logo to validate me, my deer, my land, or my habitat work.
 
I still have my membership. I do enjoy the articles in their magazine. Although I attended the first meeting of our local branch and helped organize it I have switched my membership to a branch in the county just north of me. The leadership in our local branch has taken a path I don't support.
I attend the banquets at the branch north of me along with my wife, son and daughter and their significant others.
The last news I heard about National is 4 of their employees have been dismissed because they were not certified deer bioligists. One of these employees had been our local regional director for some time before he got transferred to another area and did a great job for QDMA.
Lynn
What did they do?
 
It just seems as though a couple in charge want everything their way. No one else's opinion matters.
The banquets have been a joke. A few years ago my wife and my daughter worked tirelessly gathering donations to sell at our banquet. When they were all brought in my wife and daughter got a ration of **** because the night would drag on and the banquet would last too long. By the time the night was over we had the most successful banquet we had ever had but we still got blamed for the late evening. The following year my wife and daughter did nothing. Then they caught heck because they didn't.
The folks in charge had already said they wanted the banquet over by 9:00 PM.
The leaders weren't interested in seminars or any activities directed to land or deer management. We did have two activities geared for the youth which were great but nothing for the adults. I offered up setting a food plot seminar and display of equipment from local vendors. There was no interest shown by any other member offering any help at all. All I heard was rumblings this was just to benefit me. How I don't know. I offered space to do this but it was not going to benefit me. If we had planted a food plot it would have been 50 yards from my house and it would have been turned over after the event. A 10'X10' or whatever food plot in plain sight behind my house isn't something I need. We've got enough road hunters around here as it is.
 
I usually listen to the Habitat Podcast while looking at data at work. This weeks guest was a guy from Michigan QDMA. Didn't waste my time.
 
The best thing about QDMA was they brought a lot of like-minded individuals together to share ideas on building a better habitat for wildlife. I assume because we were not a big profit center, the Association tossed the forum aside. I think that was pretty stupid, but water under the bridge now. There are other websites, including this one, that serve the same purpose now. I still receive an occasional email from them and will read an article if it looks interesting to me, but I don't associate with them at all beyond that and don't plan to.
 
Shortly after we had our second organizational meeting we had a gathering of interested individuals in a local restaurant with a large meeting room. The turnout was unbelievable. Kip Adams represented QDMA and did a fine job not just promoting the QDMA principles but some bits and pieces of information about deer aging, managing lands for deer habitat and nutrition among other subjects. This took place in 2002. Kip came up here several times after that by our invite and we always had excellent turnouts for our seminars. Later on Matt Ross came on the scene and we had seminars related to forestry and forestry management. When Matt changed positions within the organization we had another regional director for a short while then Ryan Furrer came on board. Ryan helped us to get the youth movement started including a day set up with different stations with demonstrations about taxidermy, food plot planting, archery shooting, gun cleaning. deer aging and several other topics.
One of the most valuable seminars we had along the way was when Kip came up and did a presentation on forming "Deer cooperatives". This led to a group of my neighbors gathering together and discussing deer management. As a result my land is only a small part of the 4000 plus acres our neighbors and my family actively practice good deer management principles on.
Among the highlights of my time belonging to the QDMA is the folks I have met and made friends with. One of these folks is "Chainsaw" who is a regular contributor on this forum. I just called "Chainsaw" on the phone two nights ago and we talked for a half hour or more about our properties and our management ideas. We live about twenty miles apart.
Another is "Outdoors Tom" who lives 60 miles north of me. Tom has tracking dogs he uses to track and recover wounded deer with .So far this year he has recovered 25 deer for folks who lost the trail. When I spoke to him earlier via E-Mail today he had 4 tracking jobs lined up for today. A great service IMO.
When the rumbling first started about the QDMA dropping the forum I was one of the most outspoken against the decision. I have to admit I nearly dropped my membership shortly afterward. I was sorry to see it go but am elated to see the fine group of folks on this forum have done a job as equal to or maybe even better than the former forum.
Now that I am semi retired I will have more time to visit this site and I hope to be an asset in some way. Please don't hold my membership to another association against me.
Regards.
Lynn
 
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Readonly, you are asking if we read their magazine?Marketing basics call for a balance between product & consumer. QDMA ignored consumers when they shut down their forum. This happens when there is an unqualified CEO/Board in charge of an organization.
(The reason I'm not one of their consumers anymore; I hadn't been on the old forum in a bit and 1 day when I tried to log back in it was gone like it never existed. I was bewildered and just dropped it. A long time later I happened to stumble upon this forum) So, do I read their stuff? I don't hold any grudges, it's just a business decision, (tongue in cheek) but no thanks, they won't be hanging this potential customer out to dry a second time.
 
I would like to see membership numbers before and after the forum ignorance. Burned bridges with a lot of their biggest advocates with that move. They have all of my money that they will ever get.
 
Once they got those of us who preached that you didn't need fancy equipment or seed silenced I am sure the sponsor money rolled in more than enough to make up for the lost membership money...which was what they wanted. Much like other things in the world....the one that controls the message, controls what is the perceived truth!
 
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