There is nothing even remotely natural about the deer herds in the midwest ( read Illinois). With all of the developed land, meaning crop land, the abundance of food greatly inflates the deer population. Now days the deer herds in most areas must be managed effectively or it will lead to serious problems for the deer and the environment.
Couldn't agree more.
By keeping a balanced age structure you will allow bucks to become older and more closely simulate the structure of "natural" herds of the past (olden days).
Natural herds are just that....natural. The number of bucks born differs from year to year in a
natural setting as do the ones that survive to maturity. There are more P&Y bucks now than there were in the (olden days) so something is changing.....and it's not natural.
Having a greater number of mature bucks is natural and is accomplished by using QDM practices.
There's nothing natural about it. The ONLY natural thing would be to let them be and exist on their own and not hunt them at all, but we all know what the outcome would be if that happened.
An over abundance of deer does not make a healthy herd.
I agree...I never said it did. I think the numbers should be kept in check too.
BigJ12 your statements are your opinion and in my eyes huge generalizations and for the most part not an accurate depiction of what a true QDMer is all about.
You may be right Greg but unfortunately 90% of the people Italk to about itor read posts about it (QDM)have one agenda and one only and that's growing bigger bucks.