Quality Habitat for Quality Deer
73,250 Acres – Open for Public Hunting
Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative – McKean County, PA
The Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative (KQDC) is a logical partnership between landowners and hunters. Both stand to benefit.
KQDC is an effort to balance deer with their habitat. This should result in a healthier forest, more small game, songbirds, and other wildlife, and better deer. McKean County has an enviable record for producing bucks with big racks.
Four of the top 14 typical bucks ever taken in Pennsylvania, and the number 17 non-typical buck taken by gun were McKean County products. No other Pennsylvania county has so many bucks near the top of the records. A deer herd balanced to its environment is far more likely to produce trophy specimens than an overpopulation.
Successful deer hunters are asked to bring deer harvested in the KQDC, both bucks and does, to one of three check stations which are operated on key days during the season, including opening day and Saturdays. The deer are weighed and aged, antlers are measured, and locations of the kills are plotted on maps. Hunters receive information about the project, raffle ticks for great prizes (two tickets for each doe, one for each buck), and invitations to an annual appreciation banquet.
Information gathered at check stations helps biologists track buck-doe ratio and health of the deer. Habitat quality and deer density are also measured to monitor progress.
Your cooperation with KQDC might convince more landowners that leaving their land open to public hunting is wise forest management. It might also put your name in the big game records.
Want to know more?
Hunt Deer on the KQDC: a Downloadable Brochure
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For more information about the KQDC please visit the Bradford Ranger Station.
Allegheny National Forest – Bradford Ranger Station
29 Forest Service Drive
Bradford, PA 16701
(814) 363-6000
