had a major increase in deer populations. Because hunters had extra money they decided to travel to these places to hunt large, mature bucks. What these people saw on these trips made them wonder if they could get those kind of results on their land. Another interesting aspect of hunting started in the 90’s, deer hunters were getting older. The average age for a deer hunter today is 40 years old. Most of the hunters in this age group were in the 4 stage of deer hunting. The first stage is the shooter phase. This stage is where a hunter is just looking to get bucks under his belt. The second stage is the limiting-out phase, where the hunter wants to get as many bucks as possible. Stage number 3 is the trophy stage. This is the stage that I am at right now. I skipped right over the 2nd stage and straight to trophies. The trophy phase is were you’ll pass up smaller bucks hoping to find the king of the woods. Then there’s the 4th stage, which is the method stage. The method phase makes a deer hunter hungry to learn more about things like land and deer management. This is a big reason why Quality Deer Management is becoming popular around the country. When hunters reach the 5th stage Quality Deer Management should reach its peak. The 5th stage is the mellowing-out/ sportsman’s stage. At this stage the hunter will have enough time and money to use Quality Deer Management to its fullest. Even though there are so many benefits to Quality Deer Management, not everyone has taken to this practice. There is an old saying that goes “We’ve never done things that way before.” This is probably a big factor to wildlife agencies rejecting Quality Deer Management. Some states have tried to use Quality Deer Management on a small scale. In 1998, New York tried to enroll an 84 square-mile tract into the Quality Deer Management Program. All four of the townships had to agree on the plan for it to take place. It was...
