LANSING – A vote discontinuing the state's deer and elk marketing program has cervidae producers in the state predicting an improved future for the industry.

The marketing program, established in October 2001, was designed to enhance the economic position of the industry with education, promotion and market development, according to the state Department of Agriculture.

Producers voted down the renewal by a 33 to 14 margin through ballots mailed in September.

Only those generating at least a $1,000 from market cervidae or other cervidae products in any year since 2003 were about to vote on the program, according to the Agriculture Department.

Cervidae includes deer, elk, reindeer and moose and there are about 580 known privately owned cervidae farms in the state.

Bob Weber, owner of Whitetails Acres in Sand Creek, said he saw no benefit from the program and voted against its renewal.

"This program made us pay a cost per head of deer, and that money did nothing to help me," Weber said. "I'm pretty in tune to the industry, and something like this really didn't help the smaller producers throughout the state."

The assessments were $4 per head of red deer and elk and $2 for other cervidae. It also charged $10 per animal slaughtered.

Weber said some producers evaded the slaughtering fee because they allowed people to hunt deer on their land instead.

"Bigger farms in the state wouldn't pay the money because they could charge people to come onto their land and hunt, which is different than slaughtering because they're paying to hunt but are still able to keep the deer," Weber said.

Weber, whose 100 acres have 40 to 50 deer, said hunting on a farm is different than slaughter but also isn't the same as hunting wild deer.

"We don't want anything to do with wild deer because we provide care for our deer that they wouldn't receive in the wild. If you're able to hunt on farm you will get a better product than you would in the wild," Weber said.

Rick Sprague, owner of Triple R Whitetail Ranch in Fremont, said that he never used the program but supported the idea when it was established.

"The main problem I had with the program was that there was little communication to the producers," Sprague said. "It didn't take into account all of the aspects of the cervidae industry and how all farms are connected."

Keith Creagh, deputy director Agriculture Department, said the program had benefits.

He also said producers still will have an association but it won't have the same marketing aspect.

The industry was at one time successful but has suffered setbacks because of perceptions of disease, he said.

"There was a time when the industry was robust on the international level," Creagh said. "Then chronic wasting disease became a national issue, even though it didn't exist in Michigan, and the demand decreased. The opportunities aren't there like they used to be."

Sprague, whose 50-acre farm has more than 200 deer, disagreed and said the industry has potential that most people don't recognize.

"We're really no different than someone who raises cattle," Sprague said. "We are even more fortunate because there are qualities to deer that make them a unique animal that people aren't exposed to."