Reprinted from my October 2008 Know Whitetails column in Whitetail Journal
We hear a lot about quality deer management (QDM) today. Some folks think it is great while others do not feel that it works. And the truth is that when implemented properly it works, but there are examples where it hasn’t worked and the question is, why not? Let’s look at several failures and see what went wrong. Knowing that will help to provide you with recommendations to insure that your QDM program will work. In other words, what do I need to do on my property to give quality deer management the best chance to succeed?
Remember that the objective of quality deer management is to improve the quality of all your deer, does and bucks, and your habitat as well. There are numerous examples of where the strategy of passing up small bucks, shooting lots of does and passing up button bucks has worked to produce bigger bucks and a quality deer herd. I’ll get to several great example of such success at the end of this column, but first let’s consider some examples of where this strategy has not worked.
The Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area is 17,000 acres in Northwestern Georgia. In 1991 the DNR switched from traditional management to QDM (four points on a side). In 1997 they switched back to traditional management because there was no improvement in the quality of bucks taken. This experiment seemed doomed from the start because of five consecutive poor acorn years and a high doe harvest just prior to and after implementation of QDM. All of this led to lower quality buck harvests rather than the expected increase and thus the program was stopped. In addition there was an unexplained loss of a high number of bucks that never showed up in the harvest.
In 1993 Georgia implemented a QDM program for all of Dooley County. Subsequently other areas in Georgia implemented QDM, but there was no data to substantiate success. Thus, in 1998 the DNR captured and collared a number of bucks on one area where bucks had to have a 15-inch spread and a second area where the antler restriction was four points on one side. Fifty-six percent of the yearling bucks on the 15-inch area survived to age 2.5, and only 47% survived on the four point area. Illegal harvest was 29 percent for yearlings. Though these results are not too bad, they do not compare well to other success stories.
In the early 1990's I conducted a research project where we tried to implement a QDM program on a hunting lease on private land in West Virginia. The 2,000-acre property was owned by a paper company and leased to several different families and their friends, about thirty in all. We gave them specific instructions; pass on all bucks with less than four points on a side, increase the doe harvest, and pass on fawns because half of them are bucks. For five years we reiterated these rules at various meetings with club members. We also monitored all kills, but results were poor as we never saw a significant increase in doe body weights or buck antler size. Why did it fail? Two reasons. The hunters refused to shoot enough does, and they often violated the antler restriction rule. We would often hear a club member say that if he didn’t shoot the small buck that came by, a member of the other family in the lease would. Also, the timber company did not want to introduce a financial penalty for those who shot small bucks. So, small bucks got shot.
I’ve been working with a Pennsylvania hunting club as they try to improve their herd. We’re in our fifth year and results have been mixed. The first two years I had difficulty convincing them to pass on small bucks and to increase the doe harvest. However, the sighting of some bigger bucks has now changed all that. Doe harvests are good and no bucks are harvested that don’t meet the Pennsylvania law in that area (four points on one side). In addition the club has done a great job with food plots. While antler sizes have increased, they still are not harvesting many older bucks, and I’m not sure why. Our plan is to stay the course and I believe we will see further antler increases.
Antler restrictions can be implemented in two ways; restrict harvest to bucks with four points on one side, or restrict harvest to a minimum inside spread (ear to ear spread is used; in the North that would be 16 inches, in Texas they use 13 inches). The problem with using a point restriction is that you may harvest your best yearling bucks. A quality yearling may have eight points, but if you use four points on a side as your restriction, those bucks may get killed.
Data shows that using ear-to-ear spread protects a lot more of your quality yearling bucks and there are success stories to back this up. QDM was implemented with a seven-point minimum at the 3,300 acre Chesapeake Farms in Eastern Maryland in 1994. Doe harvest was also increased and 23 antlered bucks and 120 does harvested from 1994 to 1996. In 1997 they went to a 16 inch outside spread minimum. From 1997 to 2000-buck harvest was 31 and doe harvest 144. Before QDM 58% of all harvested bucks were yearlings. After the spread rule was implemented only 14% of harvested bucks were yearlings. Spread works. Oh yes, the harvest of bucks more than 3.5 years of age jumped from 22% to 54%.
But the biggest success story using the spread antler restriction took place in Texas. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department implemented a 13 inch spread minimum for six counties in 2002. At the same time they conducted extensive, voluntary education programs so that hunters could better identify legal bucks in the field. Prior to 2002 52% of the legal buck harvest was yearlings and only 16% were bucks 3.5 years old and older. Three years later the yearling harvest was only 14% and the 3.5+ buck harvest was 32%. This experiment worked so well that in 2007 it was expanded to 61 counties. And get this. Last year the harvest of bucks more than 4.5 years of age was 39% of the total buck harvest. Inside spread works when hunters follow the rules.
And that is the key to whether you can have success with QDM on your property. Do whatever it takes to insure hunters follow the rules. If hunters continue to shoot small bucks, develop a fine system, with proceeds going into your food plot development account. Make it a stiff fine that has some teeth. Encourage higher doe harvests, and make sure hunters only shoot doe fawns. Consider using ear-to-ear spread as your antler restriction and develop an educational program to insure that hunters know legal bucks. Do these things and QDM watch your does and bucks improve rather quickly.
