The 4 Building Blocks of Quality Deer Management

While QDM guidelines must be tailored to each property, there are four cornerstones to all successful QDM programs: herd management, habitat management, hunter management, and herd monitoring.

Herd Management
Perhaps the most important part of QDM is herd management. Determining the appropriate number of deer to harvest by sex and age is essential. In many areas, deer populations are at or above optimum levels and herd stabilization or reduction is needed. [More]

Habitat Management
Improving available nutrition is another important cornerstone of QDM. The diet of a healthy herd should contain 12 to 18 percent protein and adequate levels of calcium, phosphorous, and other important nutrients. [More]

Hunter Management
Hunter management is a critical, yet often difficult aspect of QDM. Education is the key. Hunters must fully understand both the benefits and costs of QDM. [More ]

Herd Monitoring
Herd monitoring is the final cornerstone of QDM. Two types of data are commonly collected - harvest data and observation data. Harvest data should be collected from every deer taken or found dead on a property. Commonly collected harvest data include sex, age, weight, antler measurements, and reproductive information. [More]

2008 - Rifle Opener "Selective Harvest"

Yr 1 of selective harvest didn't net any mature bucks, as expected. We had gone 5 years with the "brown it's down" philosophy, and last year it all came to a head when we took 6 bucks off the land, when only 1 of them was a mature wall-hanger. Everyone agreed that it was time to put in place some rules for harvest so we can continue to see those monster bucks we know the land can produce.

Fair amount of activity this weekend, everybody had action in front of their stands. Like last year, a lot of buck movement, in fact, we only saw one mature doe, which Jonnie harvested. Dominant buck on the land appears to be a tall rack 6pt with good potential, appropriattely named Lucky, as he would have been hanging under previous years rules. Multiple sightings of spikes, forks and 6pts...nothing bigger though.