ldo Leopold, once said, “There is value in any experience that exercises those ethical restraints collectively called sportsmanship.” That quote sums up why the concept of Quality Deer Management is becoming more and more popular in the hunting community today. All over the continent deer hunters are welcoming a philosophy of deer management unlike the traditional methods that they were used to in the past. However, while some parts of North America are welcoming the idea with open arms, others seem to be dragging their feet. It is impossible to discuss deer at all without talking about deer management, because there is there hardly a deer alive in America today that is not directly influenced by man. We control the water the deer drinks, the food that it eats, and the land that it lives on, and we regulate the manner, sex, and amount of deer harvested. The problem lies in the way we manage the deer herd. The time has come to practice Quality Deer Management.First of all some of you might be wondering exactly what is Quality Deer Management. Well the best way to describe it is by stating its goals. Brian Murphy, executive director of the Quality Deer Management Association, used this definition, “Quality Deer Management can be defined as a management philosophy/practice that unites landowners, hunters, and biologists in the common goal of producing biologically and socially balanced deer herds within existing environmental, social and legal constraints.” There are three things needed in order for Quality Deer Management to work. You need quality deer habitat, quality deer hunting, and quality deer hunters. The primary goal of Quality Deer Management is to manage for populations and attributes of the deer before we came in and screwed it up. What would be ideal is to have a 1-1 sex ratio and a good amount of mature bucks and does. Quality Deer Management as we know it today is believed by many to be introduce...
