Ignorant to QDM... Info?

[Robbhorn]

So, I've been hunting for several years now. I'm no expert in the game anyhow but a true greenhorn when it comes to QDM. The thought intices me but I guess I'd be a product of my environment. Trained by 100% meat hunters, I've been taught to hunt according to my fridge fill level. If it's empty... Anything goes. Midway full... Aim for larger thighs for more roasts. If it's full... Your done for the year.

As I'm assuming others have experienced I have become pretty darn good at filling the freezer. Not that this takes the thrill from hunting bit I would like to learn more.

Any info about QDM would be greatly appreciated. What do you guys consider a shooter? Is it just trophy? Or age? Or what's over populating?

 

[BSK]

Your best resource is going to be the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA). Check out their website at www.qdma.com

And don't think you won't be filling your freezer if you start practicing QDM. Most QDM practitioners end up killing more deer than they did in the past, although many of those deer will be does instead of bucks. However, some find that as their QDM program matures, they end up killing as many older bucks as they did younger bucks previously.

What buck is considered a "shooter" will be based on your goals, property size, and neighbors' influence. The basics of QDM--when it comes to buck harvests--is simply to protect yearlings and some 2 1/2 year-olds. But hunters/managers are free to increase that age limit to any older age they feel comfortable with and believe they can achieve.

The critical aspect of developing a QDM program is in assessing your hunting property and finding out what it really needs in the way of deer harvests. Is the deer density too high? Is the sex ratio skewed? Is the buck age structure poor? Is fawn production good?

 

[Robbhorn]

How do I determine some of those numbers and decipher what's good or bad? Maybe that's what the link you sent me will go over... I'll check it out! Thanks!