When the density of deer where you hunt exceeds the ability of the habitat to support those deer in healthy condition, it’s time to take an appropriate number of does to bring balance (and balance…
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Which Bucks Can I Shoot?
Jul 23, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
Imagine an old friend joins you for a weekend hunt on your QDM lands. The night before the hunt commences, your friend asks an important question: “Which bucks can I shoot?” For you, this is…
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Kip’s Korner: Start a QDM Cooperative
Jul 17, 2012Kip Adams
Quality deer management (QDM) is about balancing the deer herd with the habitat, balancing the adult sex ratio, and balancing the age structure for bucks and does. Sometimes, this is easier said than done, especially…
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Know the Signs of HD: Hemorrhagic Disease
Jul 2, 2012Kip Adams
During the summer of 2011, regional outbreaks of hemorrhagic disease (HD) in white-tailed deer stole the headlines throughout portions of the Unites States. This – occurring just four years after the HD epidemic in 2007,…
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Sanctuaries: Attract, Protect, Hold, Hunt
Jun 22, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
As the Quality Deer Management philosophy becomes further anchored as the dominant mindset among whitetail hunters, achieving greater numbers of mature bucks is not the hurdle it once was. Instead, there’s another hurdle: Killing them….
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Why We Can’t Manage Deer Genetics
May 30, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
The power of selectively controlled breeding is incredible. With it, we transformed a wolf into a chihuahua over the course of 15,000 years – mere milliseconds in the echoing depths of geologic time. We transformed…
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Will Dominant Bucks Dominate the Breeding?
May 17, 2012Kip Adams
“Do a handful of bucks sire the majority of the fawns?” This question is often followed with a series of questions, such as: “If the dominant buck in my area has narrow antlers, will I…
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A Leg Up: Judging Buck Age From Body Proportions
May 7, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
Is there a wall or door somewhere in your childhood home bearing pencil marks that track your height through the years? If we could just as easily track the body proportions of whitetail bucks as…
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The Antler Growth Bell Curve
Apr 23, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
There’s a simple rule underlying antler development in whitetail bucks that all hunters should understand. Awareness of this rule provides a bridge over many of the false expectations, myths, mistakes and frustrations that lie waiting…
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How to Run a Trail-Camera Survey
Apr 19, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
A trail-camera survey – put simply – is the most powerful herd monitoring tool you can use that doesn’t require the assistance of a professional wildlife biologist. On your own, you can estimate deer density,…
