Germ,

Based on my reading, QDMA acknowledges the hunter satisfaction aspect, particularly that a perferctly 1-1 balanced herd at the optimum carrying point for the land (depends on habitat) would probably hold too few deer to keep most hunter's interest. We don't do all this work and preparation to sit on stands all day and never see any deer! So QDMA typically calls for slightly more deer per area than the optimum level (which doesn't have much of a negative effect on the deer herd), and only adopts a 2-1 ratio as a goal. It's not an exact science, but with the hunter's trigger finger - passing on immature bucks and taking out some does, the structure of the herd will slowly change to a more natural, quality herd.