Barnes, One thing I did forget to mention, you have to START with good stock. We already had some pretty nice bucks on these properties but the age old problem of not letting the decent bucks walk to procreate kept from some really excellent bucks being seen. While yes seeing a 3.5 year old deer sporting a 135" class rack is a tempting trophy for most hunters, that deer in 2 years will more than likely have a 150-160" bone crown as well as able to make some more brutes.
I know about that club you spoke of and you are correct, they are a bunch of rich a-holes without a clue. And I know they tend to lean to the "If it's got bone it's a trophy" attitude. I've seen a LOT of Michigan hunters follow that attitude. It's like that in most states anymore I'm sad to say. Granted I don't care for trophy hunting anymore myself but I am still VERY selective of the meat deer I drop. Older, non milking Doe, Older, past their prime Bucks, or genetic screwups like 3.5 year old fork horns and such. But it all comes back to the beginning, let the nice younger bucks with promise walk and take out the older bucks or the genetic misfires. Get your buck to doe ratio where it should be and the herd to a manageable number that the property can easily support. In all reality, we have several too many deer for that 600 acres total if we relied ONLY on what nature provides but we do keep the food plots growing healthy providing additional food.