Quality Deer Management

5 Reasons You Belong in QDMA

| By
80 percent of hunters in the U.S. are deer hunters. We are the largest segment of the hunting population and contribute more to conservation efforts than all other types of hunters combined. Surprisingly, less than 1 percent of deer hunters belong to a deer-related conservation organization. Compare that to 41 percent of duck hunters and …

Read More

The Payoff of Passing Young Bucks

| By
As the buck edged along the creek, I tried to get a better glimpse of him. I had yet to see his body well enough to put an age on him. He turned toward me, thrashing a small sapling. I decided to call him over for a better look. Five or six years ago, I …

Read More

The Dangers of Blending Politics and Deer Management

| By
Follow Kip on Instagram. Wildlife is a public-trust resource. That means wildlife belongs to the public, and its management is entrusted to our state and federal wildlife agencies, which are required to manage using scientific principles and the best available data. Given this, is it safe to assume our wildlife professionals have the final say …

Read More

An Open Letter to the Guy Who Can’t Eat Horns

| By
I know you. You can’t help yourself. You’re that person who retorts on pretty much every message board or social media post about big bucks, quality bucks or just bucks in general with that predictable, five-word phrase: “You can’t eat the horns.” In as few words as possible, you shout volumes about where you stand …

Read More

QDM Cooperatives: All the Cool Kids are Doing It

| By
What do bell-bottoms, pegged jeans, parachute pants or in todays era, skinny jeans, have to do with deer management? Two words: peer pressure. Our friends wore them, so we wore them. Luckily, I have discovered the pegged-jean equivalent of a technique that will help improve your deer hunting this fall. In my experience working with …

Read More