Heres a question for all you advokates of QDM. Say you get one buck tag. A 180 pound mature 6 point walks within 20 yards. He is definitly a mature deer, but he has a basket rack. Do you shoot? Or do you wait for a larger racked mature buck.

And beleive it or not, the majority of mature bucks in most areas do NOT have great headgear. So do you shoot these deer also because they are mature, or do you continue holding out for the deer that will break that score your wishing to acheive.

Heres my take. If you shoot this deer, then yes, you truely care about the herd and are practicing QDM.More power to you. If you let him pass because his antlers arent big enough, then you are a trophy hunter pure and simple. Dont care about the herd, just about getting a buck bigger than your friends. After all, its quality DEER management. Not Quality bucks growing super huge antlers management. And that mature basket rack 6 point is a quality deer in my eyes, and one that I'll gladly take and take pictures and post about it. JMHO.