RE: qdm=loss of hunting skills?
Ask every hunter what they want/expect from the state/herd and they all want trophy bucks with lot' s of deer sightings. The problem is how to accomplish that in the shortest time. With a large herd the farmer groups and the insurance groups, not to mention the Bovine TB thing, all come into play. We suggest that the QDM, not QDMA, be applied to the lands that are available by the folks that wish to implement the program and go from there. QDM is not an exact science but a tried set of evaluations that require participation by the implementor to accomplish a set of goals.
There are many unknown variables that cannot be controlled by the implementor which must be negotiated over a period of time using subject and controlled experiments.
Ya want more deer with better stats??? Ya gotta work at it!!!
Each area requires a " tweeking" of the QDM strategies.
Loss of hunter skills? Not quite. In the past the armchair hunter did little to advance his/her knowledge of the out of doors except to do some reading. Now, with the QDM thing up and running/results being reported, we see folks out in the field all year long. This, in and of it' s self, will bring a more imtimate knowledge of the woods and the skills to be a part of the woods by virtue of environmental exposure.
There will always be folks that will argue the we didn' t go to the moon. There is nothing we can do about that...
Help me out here DanO...