Mule Deer Conservation Groups
Mule Deer
Does anybody know the differences between the Muley Fanatic Foundation and the Mule Deer Foundation? From what I can tell, the Muley Fanatic Foundation seems pretty active in the fund raising category. I don't know much about the Mule Deer Foundation.
following. interested in this as well
They are two separate organizations. MDF is older and heavily involved in Utah and many of the fundraising efforts such as the Expo and other auction events.
MFF is relatively new and focused in Wyoming. They have worked with some of the western WY mule deer initiatives studying migration patterns in collaboration with UW and others. Both organizations have questions raised about how much money actually goes to benefit mule deer/habitat as opposed to overhead and administrative costs.
I think both orgs are probably well intentioned but I think you get more "bang for the buck" with other groups, such as RMEF, P&Y, SCI, etc.
I would love to be proven wrong, however, as mule deer need all the help they can get.
The Mule Deer Foundation is about conservation of mule deer and blacktail deer and their habitats. More of a National group and has been around longer. Have a decent magazine.
The Muley Fanatic Foundation is more focused on Wyoming, although spreading out. They have done a lot of radio collar work in Wyoming and northern Colorado. Mostly focused on studying the biology around migration and the habitat. They do have a lot more fund raisers going on all the time vs Mule Deer Foundation. Don’t put out a magazine but do have a lot of their projects online.
PS - I am a life member of the MDF and have bought various raffle tickets thru MFF. Did win a Wyoming Commissioner’s License thru MFF. Both do good stuff. MDF is more spread across the west for the work they do.
I just joined the Mule Deer Foundation this Year, due to meeting the Founder in my Office several years back (he actually called me, and asked me to sit at his table at the local Dinner, and I ended up winning 2 rifles, on a 100 dollar raffle ticket, lol).
Seems like a really good group, that raises a lot of money annually, for Mule Deer and Blacktail Conservation.
I have gotten to know Emmett Burroughs well over the last few years, and I can tell you that there are few people more passionate than him, about hunting big Muleys. If you remember the "Awesome Bucks" video series from the late 80s/ Early 90s...that was his production.
With any conservation group there needs to be accountability of where the money goes. If they can’t provide that accurately I’d be very suspicious. In many non profits such as PETA it’s a scam. One other thing that needs to happen with conservation groups is for them to get politically active. Hunting is under constant attack. What good is any conservation group if we loose the ability to hunt?
