Quality Deer Management

QDM Works. Culling Doesn’t.

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Donnie Draeger used to believe in culling deer to improve antler genetics. Over his career as the wildlife biologist at the Comanche Ranch in southwest Texas, he’d spent a lot of time and the ranch’s money on such efforts. Then the results of a years-long scientific culling study at the ranch started to become available. …

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10 Big Trends in the U.S. Deer Harvest

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White-tailed deer are the most important game species in North America. More hunters pursue whitetails than any other species, and whitetail hunters contribute more financially than any other hunter segment. Collectively speaking, whitetails are the foundation of the entire hunting industry. That’s why each year QDMA gathers data from state and provincial wildlife agencies, the …

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Deer Hunters Made History in the 2017-18 Season. Here’s Why.

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It took awhile for all of the data to finally arrive, and when it did, it confirmed that 2017-18 was a historic deer season. That season officially ended in early 2018, and state wildlife agencies crunched harvest data during the following months. Many states use national survey companies to assist with their efforts, and all …

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DMAP is Growing and Deer Hunters Should Sign Up

| By James Lanier
In the summer of 2014, I picked up a brochure produced by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources titled, “Wisconsin’s Deer Management Assistance Program, a partnership for healthy deer and healthy habitat.” Without opening the brochure, my initial thought was, “How do I sign up?” In hindsight that decision might seem hasty, but I’d like …

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QDM: Both Sides of the Coin

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QDM is a household name in the deer hunting world today. You’d be hard pressed to find a deer hunter who hasn’t heard of it, and surveys show the majority of hunters practice some form of it. A decade ago there was much personal and professional debate over the merits of QDM. Those arguments still …

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