Was reading the post about High Fenced Hunting and wanted to see what people feel about QDM. It too is basically manipulating "Mother Nature." It also cheapens those trophies taken in true wilderness conditions versus those taken on a Managed Property that grows food plots of hybrid strains made to grow racks and size.

My other issue is rack restrictions, is it good to be working in reverse of survival of the fittest, basically taking the genetically superior animals while letting other bucks go. I understand management bucks being shot but in a lot of leases, that is usually decided by the officers of the club and fines are imposed if you are marginal in your judgement.


I guess the best argument I have heard for it is, the deer benefit from the program year round making the herd all together stronger. However, that maybe does not explain away some of the other aspects of it.

What differentiates QDM from Cattle farming, basically all the same principles apply?

For the record, I am just throwing this out for arguments sake.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hunt4Life:


My other issue is rack restrictions, is it good to be working in reverse of survival of the fittest, basically taking the genetically superior animals while letting other bucks go. I understand management bucks being shot but in a lot of leases, that is usually decided by the officers of the club and fines are imposed if you are marginal in your judgement.
QUOTE]

My opinion differs on antler restrictions. I believe they do support survival of the fittest. The goal of antler restrictions is to force hunters to harvest older bucks. By imposing these restrictions it forces a hunter to hunt the fittest; in this case the fittest is the older smarter deer. I also realize that antler growth is probably the poorest method for estimating a deer's age, but it is the only one that an agency can impose. On our private lease we age the deer using body charicteristics. If someone shoots an immature deer, there is a very good chance they will be thrown off the lease.

Free range QDM really boils down to two factors: age and nutrition. If the deer are allowed to reach maturity before being harvested, and if they have a good source of nutrition, you will have a healthy deer population.

In nature, living to maturity and beyond, is being the fittest. That animal passing on its genetics is what insures the future of a species.

Just playing the devil's advocate.

Hunt4Life:

Interesting thoughts....No doubt we would all like to be able to hunt in "true wilderness conditions". And there is no question, that, when taken to the extreme, QDM has many aspects of cattle farming.

However, in most areas of the country, true wilderness conditions cannot exit...too many people. Plus, many years of shooting bucks and not shooting does, coupled with the elimination of preditors, has resulted in the deer herds getting way out of whack. There are too many deer, and way too many does. So QDM efforts are typically aimed at reducing the overall population, getting the buck-doe ratio nearer to "normal" and letting the young bucks grow up. (In many areas, the majority of bucks harvested are 1 1/2 year olds). So at least in its early stages, QDM is an effort to make the deer population more like it was in "true wilderness areas". As far as working in reverse of the survival of the fittest, by letting the bucks get old, the trophy bucks live long enough to pass their superior genes to several next generations. A buck is not fully developed until he is 5.5. By that time he as spread his genes. And by making the buck-doe ratio closer to normal, the competition for does is increased, which allows the more dominant bucks to do most of the breeding. In addition, when the population is reduced, there are more groceries for every deer, so the does are healthier and the fawn crop is larger. The pasture is in better condition also, which makes for more quail, song birds, rabbits, etc, etc.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hunt4Life:
In nature, living to maturity and beyond, is being the fittest. That animal passing on its genetics is what insures the future of a species.
QUOTE]

I believe the same thing, and that is the ultimate goal of QDM, or any good deer management plan for that matter.