I firmly believe culling would have a place in QDM, if the situation dictated and allowed for the improvement of the heard, most likely in an inclosure. Different areas of the country, different areas of various states, and certain properties could probably "step up" their various levels of QDM.

Unfortunately, hunters like to use "culling" as an excuse to shoot any off-racked 3 or 4 point, and call it a 3.5 year old. That's why culling does not generally have a place in open hunting land becuase it's either used as an excuse, hunters don't have enough knowledge to determine what to call, and it's way beyond QDM's goals to protect the yearling bucks.

I know a professional game manager down in AL who manages many private herds within inclosures. They almost always wait to 3.5 years old to determine what to cull. The diffence with them, compared to the average hunter, is that they most likely watched and photographed that buck 100's of times before they made a dicision.

Again, I think culling is just an excuse to shoot, the majority of the time.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.