WADENA — Garth Albers likes to hunt deer.
And he wants to share his love of the sport with others as the incoming president of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association.
“I’ve been deer hunting all my life. I started deer hunting when I was 14 or 15,” Albers said.
The 68-year-old husband and father of four will begin serving his two-year term as president on April 1. Albers relocated to Wadena from Glencoe, Minnesota, four decades ago.
“I was a company rep for a dairy barn equipment company,” Albers said of his reason for moving.
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The Minnesota Deer Hunters Association has been building its hunting and conservation legacy over the last 40 years through habitat, education and advocacy, and includes almost 20,000 members statewide, according to its website.
“I went deer hunting for the first time with family,” Albers said of the outdoor recreational activity many Minnesotans enjoy and have participated in for generations.
The Minnesota Deer Hunters Association has an executive board of directors who are volunteers, according to the association website, and all these volunteers are members of chapters in communities throughout the state.
“I own a lot of land but I like doing food plots and I like watching deer,” said Albers, who co-owns Albers Realty in downtown Wadena with his wife Peggy.
The longtime member of the Wadena chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association said he prefers to hunt with a bow because it presents more of a challenge. Albers has been on the state board for several years.
“The association was started after a hard winter to help protect and grow the wild deer herd in Minnesota,” Albers said.
According to the association’s website, the winter of 1968-69 was a brutal winter in northern Minnesota, which prompted a group, subsequently named “Save Minnesota Deer,” to seek the attention and assistance of the Legislature to save the starving deer in Minnesota.
Almost a decade later, its members made a decision to increase their purpose and to create an organization to span the entire state of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association evolved from the group in 1980.
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“MDHA's mission is to ensure the preservation and enhancement of wild deer hunting opportunities through habitat, education, advocacy and legislation,” according to Albers.
Albers was elected president at the association’s state corporate board meeting on Feb. 25 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where the association is based.
“Each chapter gets so many votes, according to how many members they have,” Albers said. “I am currently the state treasurer. … But I will be giving up that position now and then we elect a new person to fulfill my term.”
Denis Quarberg is the current president of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, and Jared Mazurek is currently the executive director of the association.
“Like any presidency, you oversee meetings, and I will appoint all the committee chairpeople,” Albers said of the elected office.
Albers said the association president serves sort of like the spokesman for the organization along with the executive director.
“My main objective is to get out and tell our story … to grow our membership and grow our chapters and have a reason for people wanting to belong to the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association,” Albers said.
MDHA vision
To ensure that the culture of deer hunting in Minnesota is being upheld by improving opportunities through habitat, education, legislation and advocacy.
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- Produce public policy positions regarding wildlife and hunting
- Promote good sportsmanship, hunting ethics and safe hunting practices
- Promote and maintain high-quality deer habitat
- Provide opportunities for deer hunters to meet, share experiences and develop an inclusive spirit
- Educate hunters and the public on the value of the sport of deer hunting
- Support the enforcement of regulations that curtail the illegal taking of deer
- Support efforts to increase opportunities for deer hunting on both private and public lands
Source: Minnesota Deer Hunters Association
The Trust Project
