Pointe Coupee hunter and land manager receives award named after deer manager Al Brothers
If you ask someone in Morganza or New Roads if they know Chip Vosburg they will probably say, “Yeah, I know Chip. He grows big deer.”
If you ask a member of the Quality Deer Management Association if they know Chip Vosburg, they will probably say, “Yeah, I know the name, he is the QDMA Deer Manager of the Year.”
Vosburg, a Pointe Coupee Parish landowner who works hard managing his property for deer and other wildlife, was given the 2013 Al Brothers Deer Manager of the Year Awardduring the QDMA’s 13th annual convention held recently in Georgia.
The award is named after Al Brothers, one of the founding fathers of quality deer management.
Vosburg is a serious deer hunter who has killed a Pope & Young-class buck. He is a strong advocate of quality deer management, and believes that proper management will allow his land in the Morganza Floodway will produce Pope & Young bucks and possibly a Boone & Crockett buck.
But Chip also is realistic with his management expectations and so, while his management efforts are geared to producing trophy bucks, his basic management efforts are designed to produce a healthy deer herd that is in balance with the habitat and provides good hunting opportunity for family and friends.
Vosburg’s management focus is on creating quality habitat — a good hardwood forest component with plenty of native browse and mast producing trees. Native forage is supplemented with year-round crop forage.
In the fall, Vosburg plants wheat, oats, several varieties of clover and chickory; in the spring forage soybeans are the focus of his planting operation.
His hunting is directed at the antlerless segment of the population in an effort to control herd numbers. Young bucks showing good body and antler potential are allowed to grow older; his goal is to let them reach 4 1/2 years of age before targeting them.
Bucks showing poor antler development — those in the low-end segment of each age class — are targeted for removal, and the bucks displaying greater potential are passed up.
Above all Vosburg wants his family and friends — particular the many youth hunters that visit his land every year — to enjoy their hunting experience.
Hep believes in quality deer management to the point that he joined the Quality Deer Management Association many years ago and donates his time and money so that the group remains strong in Louisiana. He has served on the South Louisiana Branch Board for eight years. Chip has attended the Deer Steward Certification Programs sponsored by QDMA in an effort to increase his knowledge about deer herd and habitat management and to see first-hand what some of the other deer managers in the country are doing.
Vosburg also is involved with the QDMA’s South Louisiana Branch education seminars and fundraising events.
Vosburg is owner of American Safety & Industrial Supply and Coastal Environmental Services in Lafayette. He and his wife Tammy reside in Carencro. Their daughter Victoria attends Ole Miss, and their son Morgan will be attending LSU this fall.
