Are you willing to hunt on a mix of public and privately owned lands with a better than average chance of taking a nice buck? If so, there is a 74,000 acre tract of land that is worth checking into.
Most hunters, driven by tradition, hunt the same areas from one year to the next. There is nothing wrong with that. However if you’re looking for a quality hunting experience and you’re willing to try a new hunting area, then the Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative (KQDC) has what you’re looking for.
The Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative was formed in 2000. The concept was to provide an ongoing demonstration area centering on management principles that reflect quality deer management.
The goals were simple. First, to gain an understanding on managing the deer within a given area, and determine their relationship within a given forested habitat. To accomplish this task the Cooperative partnered with a number of forest landowners, forest managers, biologists, local business owners, and hunters for their support for the overall project.
The KQDC includes 74,000 acres situated in portions of McKean, Warren, Elk, and Forest counties, with its northernmost boundary meeting the New York State line. A lot of acreage is involved here, including private land holdings that are intermingled.
Sounds complicated when it comes to determining where the KQDC lands are exactly. However that’s where folks at the Allegheny National Forest have stepped in to provide one of the best interactive hunting maps I have seen.
Recently, a KQDC Deer Season Hunting event was held at the University of Pittsburgh, Bradford Campus. The event showcased a number of great seminars. One of the most unique presentations was conducted by Collin Shephard of the ANF.
In the past, Shephard and others developed a mapping program designed to help sportsmen gain information regarding hunting within the KQDC area. The map was good, but the new and improved edition is even better.
Access and the opportunity to hunt and have a quality experience is why the just released interactive map provides a valuable tool when it comes to hunting. The interactive program can be accessed at http://bit.ly/huntingmap
The base map is filled with up-to-date information and is easy to use. On the site, a variety of base maps can be selected to suit your individual preference. Within the area, ten DMA areas are used to delineate their boundaries.
The interactive features of the program can be used to key in on a general or specific area.
The layer list provides hunters with important hunting information such as: locations of timber harvests, Forest age classes, DMAP units, ANF roads open to hunters and disabled hunters during deer season. And most important Forest Types that include: Aspen, Conifer stands, Oak and shrub areas. All applied and shown on your computer screen can be printed as well. Note that the site can be slow to respond when adding layers to the base map, so be patient.
What is even more impressive is that the map layer list allows you to check deer densities in a given area. Now how much more information do you need to determine where to start hunting?
So how good is the hunting and what is the quality of deer being harvested from the area? Annually the Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative’s Facebook page includes up-to-date images captured by trail cameras and are supplied for all to see. A testament of what the KQDC area has to offer.
The KQDC held its annual Deer Season Kickoff recently at the Pitt-Bradford Campus providing a number of great seminars. One of which was a preview of the new “How to Use the new On-Line Hunter Map of the Allegheny National Forest”. It is a tool for hunters to identify habitat types, timber harvests and age classes, along with an up-to-date Deer Density Index, just to name a few.
As in the past, the KQDC will man its own deer check station. Hunters who harvest a deer, regardless of sex, are encouraged to have the deer measured, aged, and weighed.
The information gained from the deer checked in will help the KQDA to understand the dynamics of the deer harvested within the study area.
All who visit the check station with their harvest will be eligible for a drawing to win a hunting rifle.
The check station will be located on Route 59 at Timberdoodle Flats in Marshburg. Days of operation include the first two days of rifle season and again on the first Saturday of rifle season. Hours of operation are from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
To see recent trail camera photographs captured on the KQDC, log onto Facebook and type in Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative. What you’ll see is an overview of big game including bears and bucks. Take a look, it may change your mind on where you’ll be hunting this deer season.
Also, check on the PA Game Commission’s website for DMAP areas located within the KQDC area.
Take a look and see for yourself what the KQDC has to offer and it just might make a difference where you’ll be hunting deer this year.
Charlie Burchfield is an active member and past president of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association, an active member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association, Outdoor Writers Assoc. of America and the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers. Gateway Outdoors e-mail is GWOutdoors@comcast.net
