North Dakota PLOTS

If you’re interested in hunting in North Dakota but have never lived there, don’t know any landowners, or lack direct access to hunting grounds, the PLOTS program is designed for you. It serves as a starting point, providing access to private land for walk-in hunting.

MDF Shared Biologist (Migration/GIS) – Arizona

The Mule Deer Foundation (MDF), and Arizona Game & Fish Department (AZGFD) are seeking a…

Mule Deer Meatballs

At the most basic, meatball recipes combine ground or chopped meats, functional ingredients and flavoring components. Bread crumbs, crackers, or a cooked grain are for body and prevent the toughness that happens when muscle fibers shrink as they cook. Eggs, sometimes bread soaked in milk, water or a broth bind all of the ingredients for simplifying the forming and cooking process. Those are all functional ingredient options that build the basic structure that can be simple or complex, depending on which regional result you want to create.  Adding specific flavoring components from seasonings, spices or aromatics is what really defines your dish and makes it embrace the style you have intended for it.  Onions, garlic, lemon grass, citrus and fresh herbs can transform any combination of your functional ingredients and send it to the far reaches of the earth. 

OP ED on Proposition 127

The Mule Deer Foundation thanks Colorado voters for rejecting Proposition 127, which would have banned the hunting of mountain lions and bobcats throughout the state. Colorado voters affirmed a strong belief in the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and asserted their desire for Colorado’s wildlife to be managed by wildlife professionals, rather than through citizens initiatives. 

Three shooting positions for Western Hunting. 

When heading out for your first western hunt, there are a million things to prepare for. We often focus on the gear we need, what type of tent, what kind of pack, and the list goes on and on. Part of the prep phase is picking your rifle and heading to the range to get practice in. We often do this from a fixed, stable position. These stable positions will be nearly impossible during a western hunt due to terrain and the speed at which opportunities often happen. With that in mind, here are three positions you should practice shooting with and why: 

Forest Service and MDF Join Forces on Habitat Projects and Wildfire Crisis work!

Following a keystone agreement on September 2023, the Tonto National Forest and the Mule Deer Foundation committed to restoring 1000 acres of landscape through lop and scatter-type projects

Mule Deer Carpaccio

Carpaccio is one of my favorite dishes of all time. It’s an Italian dish of beef tenderloin sliced paper thin with a deli slicer and served raw. I’ve never seen a recipe of carpaccio done with mule deer and seeing as how it’s my favorite meat, there is no way it could be bad. My adaptation to this recipe can be done in any home. If you can’t get it deli slicer thin with a knife don’t worry, you can pound it after and it comes out great.

Best Boots in Mule Deer Country

During hunting season at the Mule Deer Foundation, the staff becomes obsessed with gear. The office is bubbling with debates over any type of gear, from brands of water filters to wall tents. When applicable, we try to publish these debates for the reader to consider when making purchasing decisions during hunting season. 

Today, we are discussing which boot is best. This debate has multiple facets, from cost to break-in period to overall comfort and, finally, regionality. We recognize that there is probably no one boot that’s best for all scenarios, but we’ve done our best to decipher which is the closest.

MDF Employee Spotlight

In the MDF Employee Spotlight Segment the Mule Deer Foundation would like to call attention…

Bass Pro Grant Update for Great Plains

In 2024 MDF launched its Private Lands Conservation Program in the Great Plains. The Mule Deer Foundations mission focuses on sharing the conservation of these deer species through innovative land and wildlife management practices, partnerships with various stakeholders, and public education

“Mule Deer Pupusa & Smoked Tomato salsa”

Pupusas are El Salvadorian stuffed corn cakes served with curtido and salsa roja, traditionally stuffed with beens, cheese and pork. We have taking this incredible south/central American favoirite and given it a Mule Deer Foundation spin using some of the roast cuts from our favorite critter.  These are a great item to make ahead, wrap in foil and have waiting for you back at camp to warm up after a long day in the field. Pupusas also freeze incredibly well if your looking for a quick dinner to pull out when time seems to slip away.  The curtido is a El Salvadorian version of slaw that cuts through the richness of the cakes and is definitely a must with these.  And the smoked tomato salsa is my favorite way to use up those sweet summertime tomatoes. We keep this on hand during the summer for all sorts of uses, its sure to become one of your go to faves. 

Grasslands Conservation Act introduced in Congress

US representatives from both sides of the isle introduced the North American Grasslands conservation act, which, if passed by Congress, would create an incentive based fund to sustain and restore grasslands ecosystems across the United States. The proposed Grasslands Conservation act is designed to mirror the North American Waterfowl Conservation act of 1989 which used voluntary funding to conserve over 30,000,000 acres of wetlands.