Is practicing QDM and letting 1 1/2 old bucks walk trophy hunting? Our area will never produce many B&C deer.We used to shoot everthing that was legal on our lease.We killed alot of young bucks.But that's pretty much all we killed.Probably 60-75% of our 1 1/2 bucks were killed each year.Our buck to doe ratio was 10-1.We saw no rutting sign,none.Our herd was way out of wack.We can legally kill 5 does.If you can shoot 5 does why would you NEED to kill a forkhorn buck?Letting a deer walk knowing you could have killed him can be just as satisfying.The indians called it counting coup.Now I do hunt to kill deer and between me and my sons we kill around 6-8 deer each year.But since we have stopped shooting juvenile bucks our overall hunting experience has increased greatly.My 17 year old son has killed more mature rack deer in the last 5 years than I killed in the previous ten years hunting our lease.Now I have seen guys go overboard with the "trophy" mentality.I don't buy the don't shoot it if your not going to mount it philosiphy.But shooting does and letting young bucks rech maturity has created a more natural balanced deer herd on our lease.We actually see bucks chasing does now.We see a harder more defined rut.Back when our ratio was 10 to 1 I once saw a doe with a spotted fawn in december.That's how out of balance our herd was.Our deer weigh more now,they're healthier.Praticing QDM does not necessarily mean trophy hunting.It's about having a balanced age structure and healthy deer herd.I was'nt a believer in it at first.But I have seen first hand the benefits of QDM.

BIlly

WHACKEM N STACKEM