WINDOM, Minn. — Denis Quarberg lives in southern Minnesota farm country, a long way from the nearest wolf, but he understands how big an issue wolves are to some northern Minnesota deer hunters.
"I'm still hearing, especially from that northeastern area, from hunters who say they are seeing more wolves than deer up there," Quarberg said. "That's why we support wolf management."
The "we" in this case is the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, of which Quarberg is the president. MDHA, based in Grand Rapids, is the largest deer hunters group in the state with about 20,000 members spread across 63 local chapters statewide.
"COVID really hurt us as far as memberships. When we lost our in-person banquets, it (membership) crashed," Quarberg said. "But over the last year we've really bounced back to the point now we have more members than we did pre-COVID."
Quarberg, 72, is helping guide the nonprofit's board through selection of a new executive director this fall. Craig Engwall left the post in August after seven years to become senior legal and program adviser for the Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources.
"We've had some very good applicants. We're narrowing it down. We have interviews set up. We're getting close," Quarberg said in a telephone interview earlier this month.
The position will likely be filled before year's end, he added.
The Minnesota Deer Hunters Association has its roots dating back to a series of deep snow and cold winters in the late 1960s and into the 1970s during which so many deer perished that the state entirely canceled the deer season in fall 1971.
The group Save Minnesota Deer formed to lobby the state Legislature and get emergency measures approved to feed deer. In 1980, the group morphed into a statewide organization called Minnesota Deer Hunters Association.
While science now shows that feeding deer even in tough winters probably doesn't help much, MDHA has evolved to become a multi-issue conservation group, focusing primarily on habitat and state policy that impacts deer hunting. In addition to money raised at fundraising events at the local chapter level, including the longstanding Hides for Habitat program, MDHA funnels millions of dollars annually in state conservation grants into wildlife habitat projects statewide. The group and its partners have contributed more than $43 million to habitat projects over the years.
"I think we are the largest receiver of the state's small conservation grants out of any organization," said Quarberg.
Quarberg grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and, while his parents didn't hunt deer, he and his brother did. He's retired from the Toro company in Windom and has been exclusively a bowhunter in recent years.
Quarberg said no matter who the new executive director is, the group will continue to focus on chronic wasting disease as the most critical issue facing deer and deer hunters. The MDHA has been pushing for much stricter laws to prevent the spread of CWD, including a state law that would ban any new captive deer farms in the state and phase out existing ones by buying out each farm's livestock.
Quarberg said he's been disappointed that the Minnesota Legislature has failed to pass tougher CWD regulations because of apparent political battles on other issues, but also because some lawmakers don't seem to take the disease seriously.
"This should not be a Republican or Democratic issue. The deer don't care which party you are in," he said.
CWD may also play a role in the other big issue Quarberg said MDHA must tackle: the declining number of deer hunters. The spread of CWD is likely pushing some people out of hunting, Quarberg notes, while others are simply aging out with few new hunters replacing them.
In 2012, Minnesota sold 521,951 deer hunting licenses. By 2021, that was down to 467,412 — down nearly 11% in 10 years.
The average age of a Minnesota deer hunter in 2000 was 38.78. By 2015, that had jumped to 40.82. By 2018, it had jumped again to 41.77, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. In 2000, there were 35,994 hunters age 65 or older in the Minnesota deer woods. By 2018, senior citizen hunters had nearly doubled to 69,728.
Quarberg noted that the average age of an MDHA member is now 57.
"We need to bring more young people into this (deer hunting) or we are going to lose it faster than we think," Quarberg said, noting organized sports, school activities, electronics and an increasingly urban population all have pushed youth away from hunting.
Quarberg notes that youth deer hunts offered by his local chapter have attracted good participation, but "we just need to do more in more places."
"That's our biggest concern, that we're losing the youth," he noted. "But I'm an optimist at heart. I still think if we keep working that we can get young people to come in and stay in. We just have to make it something they get so excited about that they are going to want to keep doing it forever."
— Since 1985, MDHA's Hides For Habitat Program has collected over 900,000 donated deer hides raising nearly $5.5 million. You can donate hides at locations across the state during the deer hunting season.
— MDHA has a rating of 94 out of 100 from Charity Navigator, signaling its funds are spent well on its core missions of habitat, advocacy and education.
— Annual membership to MDHA costs $35. For more information or to join, go to mndeerhunters.com.
