Old Buck
Life Member
The nation's whitetail deer herd has been growing by a million a year and now stands at an estimated 32 million animals. In fact, there could be more deer in this country than existed prior to European settlement.
If that sounds like good news, it's not. According to the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA), the total population is not the best measure of a healthy deer herd.
Prior to settlement the adult sex ratio was perhaps 50 to 75 bucks per 100 does, and 4 1/2-year-old bucks were commonplace. Today the post-hunt sex ratio of adult deer is likely fewer than 20 bucks per 100 does, and most of those bucks are 1 1/2 years old. In Pennsylvania, nearly 90 percent of the bucks harvested each season are yearlings. In many parts of the country, yearling bucks breed up to
75 percent of all does.
QDMA, a Georgia-based nonprofit organization that's growing about as rapidly as the deer population, would like to change those numbers by promoting the harvest of more does and by protecting immature bucks.
Selling that management approach to sportsmen and even wildlife professionals is like peddling air conditioners in the arctic.
"In many parts of the country it's sacrilegious to promote shooting does," admits Brian Murphy, the wildlife biologist who heads up QDMA. "People still want to protect the breeding stock. While that may have been the best approach 30 or 40 years ago, it's not the right thing for today, not when we have nearly three times as many deer as we have deer hunters."
The challenge facing QDMA goes beyond changing a widely held but badly outdated management philosophy. Another problem is that most hunters want to harvest bucks. "It's a macho thing," Murphy says. "It's that did-you-get-your-buck mentality that's engrained in most hunters. Taking any buck is better than taking a doe."
As a result, the doe-buck ratio is out of whack to the point where mature bucks are increasingly rare. QDMA's goal is to achieve quality deer, quality deer habitat, quality deer hunting and quality deer hunters.
QDMA's roots go back to the late 1960s when Texas biologist Al Brothers, who is considered the father of the movement, and Murphy Ray Jr., began to question the unregulated harvest of bucks. In 1975 they published a scientific report called Producing Quality Whitetails. It stimulated a lot of excitement but very little immediate action.
Brothers' work eventually found a home at QDMA, which was formed in 1988 and now boasts 11,000 members in 47 states and five foreign countries. Its membership has been doubling annually and includes 600 wildlife management professionals.
But despite QDMA's rapid growth, Murphy will be the first to admit its objectives have not been universally accepted by state wildlife agencies. "Some are pro, most are neutral and a few are against it," he says.
Murphy says one goal of QDMA is to maintain genetic diversity. "The more bucks that participate in the rut, the greater the genetic diversity within the herd," he says. "That means healthier deer and larger antlers."
According to QDMA proponent Dr. R. Larry Marchinton, reducing the overall size of the deer herd and improving the quality of habitat could produce yearling bucks with six, eight or even ten points.
But QDMA is not about trophy management. "It's not that we're completely opposed to trophy management," he says. "It's probably a biologically sound strategy, but it comes with baggage. Trophy management has a negative connotation and could result in the loss of support for hunting with the general public."
Even the wildlife professionals who don't support QDMA can relate to that. The rapidly expanding deer herd presents numerous public threats ranging from crop depredation to decimated forage to deer-vehicle collisions.
"As participation numbers continue to decline," Murphy says, "the remaining hunters need to understand the importance of harvesting female deer for the overall good of the herd. They need to be well educated."
QDMA prides itself on education. Members receive a quarterly magazine called Quality Whitetails, a journal filled with technical information on herd management. QDMA also conducts more than 100 workshops around the country, eight-hour courses aimed at teaching sportsmen and landowners the fundamental concepts behind QDMA.
Comments?
Old Buck
If that sounds like good news, it's not. According to the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA), the total population is not the best measure of a healthy deer herd.
Prior to settlement the adult sex ratio was perhaps 50 to 75 bucks per 100 does, and 4 1/2-year-old bucks were commonplace. Today the post-hunt sex ratio of adult deer is likely fewer than 20 bucks per 100 does, and most of those bucks are 1 1/2 years old. In Pennsylvania, nearly 90 percent of the bucks harvested each season are yearlings. In many parts of the country, yearling bucks breed up to
75 percent of all does.
QDMA, a Georgia-based nonprofit organization that's growing about as rapidly as the deer population, would like to change those numbers by promoting the harvest of more does and by protecting immature bucks.
Selling that management approach to sportsmen and even wildlife professionals is like peddling air conditioners in the arctic.
"In many parts of the country it's sacrilegious to promote shooting does," admits Brian Murphy, the wildlife biologist who heads up QDMA. "People still want to protect the breeding stock. While that may have been the best approach 30 or 40 years ago, it's not the right thing for today, not when we have nearly three times as many deer as we have deer hunters."
The challenge facing QDMA goes beyond changing a widely held but badly outdated management philosophy. Another problem is that most hunters want to harvest bucks. "It's a macho thing," Murphy says. "It's that did-you-get-your-buck mentality that's engrained in most hunters. Taking any buck is better than taking a doe."
As a result, the doe-buck ratio is out of whack to the point where mature bucks are increasingly rare. QDMA's goal is to achieve quality deer, quality deer habitat, quality deer hunting and quality deer hunters.
QDMA's roots go back to the late 1960s when Texas biologist Al Brothers, who is considered the father of the movement, and Murphy Ray Jr., began to question the unregulated harvest of bucks. In 1975 they published a scientific report called Producing Quality Whitetails. It stimulated a lot of excitement but very little immediate action.
Brothers' work eventually found a home at QDMA, which was formed in 1988 and now boasts 11,000 members in 47 states and five foreign countries. Its membership has been doubling annually and includes 600 wildlife management professionals.
But despite QDMA's rapid growth, Murphy will be the first to admit its objectives have not been universally accepted by state wildlife agencies. "Some are pro, most are neutral and a few are against it," he says.
Murphy says one goal of QDMA is to maintain genetic diversity. "The more bucks that participate in the rut, the greater the genetic diversity within the herd," he says. "That means healthier deer and larger antlers."
According to QDMA proponent Dr. R. Larry Marchinton, reducing the overall size of the deer herd and improving the quality of habitat could produce yearling bucks with six, eight or even ten points.
But QDMA is not about trophy management. "It's not that we're completely opposed to trophy management," he says. "It's probably a biologically sound strategy, but it comes with baggage. Trophy management has a negative connotation and could result in the loss of support for hunting with the general public."
Even the wildlife professionals who don't support QDMA can relate to that. The rapidly expanding deer herd presents numerous public threats ranging from crop depredation to decimated forage to deer-vehicle collisions.
"As participation numbers continue to decline," Murphy says, "the remaining hunters need to understand the importance of harvesting female deer for the overall good of the herd. They need to be well educated."
QDMA prides itself on education. Members receive a quarterly magazine called Quality Whitetails, a journal filled with technical information on herd management. QDMA also conducts more than 100 workshops around the country, eight-hour courses aimed at teaching sportsmen and landowners the fundamental concepts behind QDMA.
Comments?
Old Buck
