The New Year has certainly started out on the right foot! With deer sale after deer sale there seems to be no end in sight. And with the reported results, I am often hearing “What recession?”

This year kicked off with our annual journey north to attend the Top 30 sale hosted by Kevin Grace with Whitetail Sales & Service. With a packed arena of vendors and deer farmers showing off their genetics, this proved to be a great time for all. Not to mention the success of the deer auction. You can visit their website to learn more about upcoming sales at www.whitetailsales.com .

I must say though that — being from Texas —I was in for a treat when more that a foot of snow dumped on us during the three-day event. This wasn’t your normal dusting of the frozen stuff that we sometime receive down here in the heart of Texas. (See below)

Following the long journey home, we then re-geared for the Deer Breeders Co-op sale in Mesquite, Texas. The weather was much more tolerable and the sale and show was a success for the DBC. Thanks to Cory and the DBC for allowing us to have some time to review our product in one of the many break-out sessions during this event.

The fun didn’t end after the DBC. Again, we re-geared and we’re off to the SCI show in Reno, Nev., where we were able to focus on our GMS Africa product. We have several outfitters in South Africa and Namibia who are using the product and working with us to make it even more customized to fit the Safari outfitters needs.

As you can see GMS has been busy on the road so far this year, promoting our product as well as soliciting feedback from our customers on how to continue to make our products better.

Cool stuff is on the horizon. For those who were able to attend the breakout session at the DBC sale, you were able to get a sneak peek at the new feature currently being developed for GMS. It is the ability to electronically send DNA request forms directly to DNA solutions through your GMS program. Of course, you will still have to mail in your sample but this new innovation is sure to expedite your results.

There are many other enhancements that are being added to make GMS and GMS Pro even more user-friendly. As these updates are available we will let you know so that you can download them and begin utilizing them as soon as possible.

We are looking forward to working with you and hope to see you soon. Our next stop will be San Antonio at the Superior Genetics sale at the San Antonio Livestock Show on Feb 11, and Feb. 12, 2010.

Mike Owens
President, GMS

By Carolyn Tuttle

The month of January is always a good opportunity for new beginnings and getting organized, and we at GMS are excited about getting started with another round of training webinars.

Last Fall’s sessions were extremely successful and well-attended. Clients suggested, however, that we offer webinars during the day, as well as in the evenings, to accommodate schedules so we’ve expanded our webinar times to 2 p.m. (CST) and 6 p.m. (CST).

We’ll be covering all the topics covered last fall, but will cover each topic twice in order that more clients can attend.

Please check the schedule below and mark your calendars for the training session dates and time that you’re interested in attending.

To participate in any of the sessions, please send your e-mail RSVP to support@wildlifemanagementsoftware.com.

Your request should be received at least TWO HOURS prior to the start time of the connecting to Tech Support’s desktop and viewing the GMS application. Each session will start at either 2 p.m. (CST) or 6 p.m. (CST) and will last approximately 45 minutes. A question and answer period will follow each session. The initial training session will be recorded for later posting for clients to access and view at their convenience.

There is a limit of 15 attendees to each session so if you are interested in attending, please send your e-mail request as early as possible.

You will receive an e-mail with a link to the meeting. It’s suggested that about 10 minutes before the scheduled meeting time that you click on the link and download the software. There will also be a telephone number listed in the e-mail that will allow you to conference into the meeting, as well. The number is NOT a toll-free number, so you will incur some long distance expense.

We’re looking forward to this opportunity to meet more of you and teach you about our GMS software features so that you can use our products to their fullest!

Also, please don’t forget to check online for updates since a new version 11.01 is available for downloading. We don’t want you to miss all of the new features offered in this upgrade.

Our Next GMS Webinars

February 3, 2 p.m. CST: GMS Roadmap & How to Configure GMS and GMS Breeder Package (Don’t get lost; learn the GMS roadmap with the organization of GMS, System file setup, and GMS Utility)

February 17, 6 p.m. CST: GMS Roadmap & How to Configure GMS and GMS Breeder Package (Don’t get lost; learn the GMS roadmap with the organization of GMS, System file setup, and GMS Utility)

March 3, 2 p.m. CST: Herd Inventory and Dashboard including Lineage (Learn how to setup up animals in the Herd Inventory and review the various options on the Herd Inventory Dashboard)

March 24, 6 p.m. CST: Herd Inventory and Dashboard including Lineage (Learn how to setup up animals in the Herd Inventory and review the various options on the Herd Inventory Dashboard)

April 7, 2 p.m. CST: Animal Search (How to maximize use of the Animal Search feature as a search engine and custom reporting tool)

April 21 6 p.m. CST: Animal Search (How to maximize use of the Animal Search feature as a search engine and custom reporting tool)

May 5, 2 p.m. CST: Multi-Animal Actions (Time saving features for processing data across several animals)

May 19, 6 p.m. CST: Multi-Animal Actions (Time saving features for processing data across several animals)

GMS Events List

February 12-13, 2010: TDA Superior Genetics Whitetail Deer Auction, San Antonio, Texas

March 12, 2010: 43rd Annual Exotic Wildlife Association Meeting, Kerrville, Texas

March 18-20, 2010: NADeFA Annual Conference, Toledo, Ohio

August 19-21, 2010: 12th Annual Texas Deer Association Convention, San Antonio, Texas