TheLBLman said:
Most of us, including you, are in fact "trophy" hunters 
By current definitions, we are not "managing" our properties
for top-end "trophy" bucks, which is pretty much an effort in futility anywhere in TN.
I've seen it successfully done. But it does require absolute trigger control over a decent sized area (a couple of thousand acres). Plus, it requires having land in the better soil areas of TN.
Similar to each of us defining a "trophy" buck, the definition of futility may be different for each of us as well.
For about as long as you've managed the deer hunting on your place, only a few miles from you, I've managed a large private acreage under more stringent shooter buck rules than your place. Yet my long-term harvest results have only been marginally better than yours.
I haven't been doing what you and I would call "trophy" buck management, although perhaps somewhere in between top-end QDM and that.
Most of the members in my group are targeting 4 1/2-yr-old or older bucks, with a few raising the bar to 5 1/2. Any 3 1/2 is legal, but most in the group would only take a 3 1/2 by mistake. We also have, not a 1-buck limit, not a 2-buck limit, but a 3-buck limit over any two consecutive years, i.e. it's a 1.5-buck limit.
Women, children, novices all play here by the same rules.
But even with substantial acreage, most of the top-end 2 1/2's will get killed outside our property lines before they become 3 1/2's. Most of these top-end 2 1/2's are scoring 100 to 115. A small percentage of these will survive to 3 1/2, but very few of them will survive to 4 1/2.
Different story with the below average antlered 2 1/2's & 3 1/2's, as most of them survive to 4 1/2 or older. But few of them will ever have antlers scoring above 130, just like you've seen on your place.
So to me, having more stringent "trophy" buck management would be an exercise in futility (in TN), as the number of bucks available above 130 would become relatively unchanged. Based on what I've seen at Ames (over 18,000 acres) and some other large properties, QDM works here, but a higher-level true "trophy" buck management (like the King Ranch, etc.) requires probably at least 10,000 acres in TN.
Think about this, Ames has been one of the largest, most intensely-managed deer clubs in TN for decades. How many bucks above 150 inches have been killed there total over time? Any net 170's? Meanwhile, some pretty small acreages in nearby states like Ohio, KY, IL regularly produce (like annually) bucks over 150.
It's all about what you want from your hunting experience, and our choices become some kind of trade-off between more of one thing for less another.
