Like I've said there is nothing wrong with it as long as its value is kept in perspective with other important hunting values and traditions. But your premise is wrong at least here in NY. We have lots of healthy deer. We don't have a woods full of fawns and button bucks. Every year hundreds of trophies are taken as well. Would QDM increase that number? Sure it would but there is a price associated with it. If the bigger buck mentality (no scarcasm intended) becomes too obsesive. That is if it winds up convincing young hunters that killing a big buck is the all important ultimate end to successful deer hunting then the price is too high for me. Atlasman made a great point when he said "QDM itself is one big assumption that everyone shares the same goal". We don't, and its time for the QDM,AR,PBS or whatever advocates to accept it and stop trying to push their value on others. It's also time for them to stop the arrogance and assuming the only reason many of us oppose these things is not because we are ignorant of there benefits its because we believe there benefits don't out weigh the negatives.
I think the philosophy of QDM is sound in it's inception. Where it goes from there is not something they can be answerable for. I think we ARE rack obsessive, but that's what drives the money side of things to be honest, and that's what's going to get the most attention (Big Game conventions, videos, magazines, license sales). The department of game is going to listen to the loudest group because that's where their money comes from. So it may be that the Rack Mentality is going to bully people who want to have a simple hunt. But as I said before, I don't want it legislated. I want it accepted on a personal level. If it was going to be legislated here in VA I'd probably lobby against it, even though I practice it personally. But as far as having a more "natural" age group dispersion it definitely benifits the deer herd, anticdotal evidence aside. Going back to my fishing analogy, because it's a good parallel and something that most people accept, why do people throw back the small fish? To let them get bigger. Can you have fun catching small fish? Sure. But universally, most people would consider catching the same amount of bigger fish even more enjoyable. Why would managing deer be any different? It isn't. Raising the median age of deer will increase the enjoyment for all hunters, no matter what their emphasis (unless it's the elimination of the whole deer herd
). I think the official QDM stance is to improve the quality of the hunt for everyone, not just the rack obsessed.
The population didn't decline here in NY, in fact the herd has been expanding at a rapid rate for some 60 years. The DEC has been issuing more and more doe permits to hold it back so its pretty hard for me to buy your "population decline syndrome".
I don't think the hunting trend in NY is to take all but the young does, which was my premise. What I'm saying is there is a danger in taking the very young as well as the mid-age does to the exclusion of the matron does. Good management would be to try and take out the oldest Matron doe and allow the does in their prime do the majority of the breeding.
I'd be curious as to how you determined the health of the deer.
Birth rates/fawn survival rates, disease levels, after season deer mortality rate. Based on several studies in Minn., Wisc., and a few other states I can't recall off the top of my head. (it's been 15 years).