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WASILLAWASILLA VALLEY VALLEY HUNTING HUNTING

ORGANIZATIONORGANIZATION

Deer Management Strategies

Traditional (Quantity)

Management

QDM - Quality Deer Management

Trophy Management

Traditional Deer Management

•High Buck Harvest•Unbalanced Sex Ratio•Lots of Does and Fawns•Lots of Young Bucks•Public Areas•Lots of Hunters

Trophy Deer Management

•Fully Mature Bucks Only (5 1/2 + yrs old)•Large Blocks of Land (5,000+ acres)•Very Aggressive Doe Harvest•Few Hunters•Requires Skill at Field Judging Age•Requires Self-Control•Not Feasible in Most Areas

Quality Deer Management

•Harvest Fewer but Larger Antlered Bucks•Protect Young Bucks•Appropriate Doe Harvest•More Balanced Sex Ratio•Reasonable Blocks of Land (1,000+ acres)•Involved and Committed Hunters

What is Quality?

Think Population and NOT antlers!

• QDM Implies a Balanced Deer Herd

• Even Age Structure

• Short Defined Breeding Season

• Supported by Existing Habitat Resources

Deer Management is like a Three-legged Stool...

Herd Management Habitat

Management

Hunter Management

If One Leg is Shortened…The Stool will Fall Over!

Herd Management

Habitat Management Hunter

Management

Adjustments must be made to prop up the short leg = Management

Herd Management Habitat

Management

Hunter Management

Herd ManagementHow many Deer can your habitat

support?

Habitat Quality Determines:

•Herd Size•Herd Quality•Harvest Requirements

Population Growth and Deer Quality

BEST

Maximum Yield

GOOD

POOR

Deer Condition

and Quality

Carrying Capacity

Pop

ulat

ion

Siz

e

Time

Population Growth Minimum Harvest

POOR

Deer Condition

and Quality

Carrying Capacity

Pop

ulat

ion

Siz

e

Time

Population Growth Moderate Harvest

Good

Deer Condition

and Quality

Carrying Capacity

Pop

ulat

ion

Siz

e

Time

Herd Management

How many Deer can you Harvest?

Depends on Habitat Quality, but…

Research says 35% to maintain Population

1 Doe per 100 acres

Why Harvest Does?

•Removes Mouths off the Range

•Lowers Sex Ratio

•All Remaining Does will be Bred and have Fawns

When is the best time?

•Early! First Gun Season

•More Difficult to Identify Later in the Season

Which Does do we harvest?

•The First one you can•Largest, Oldest does First•Don’t shoot any Fawns

Which Bucks do we harvest?

•Depends on Management Objective…More to Come Later.

Habitat Management

•Native Vegetation Management•Establishing Food Plots

Food Plots

Food Plots supplement natural habitats by “smoothing out” or leveling the nutritional plane across seasons.

Hunter Management

Manage Expectations

Average Antler SizeUpper Coastal Plain

70 100 110 120 130 140 160

Boone and Crockett Score

AVERAGE

Frequency

AGE CLASSB & C 3.5 4.5 5.5+<100 49 22 15100-109 20 17 11110-119 16 23 19120-129 9 20 21130-139 4 12 16140-149 2 5 13150-159 2 4160-169 1<=170

Average Antler SizeUpper Coastal Plain

% of Population

How do you manage expectations?

“Know” the deer on your property

Use cameras to make a list of “Shoot” and “Don’t Shoot” bucks

Don’t Shoot Shoot!

How do YOU manage deer?

1st - Determine your objective.

2nd - Get Biologist assistance…for free!

The Deer Management Assistance Program, (DMAP) is a comprehensive

deer management program, consisting of data collection and cooperator education with which the MDWFP tries to put the

landowner/cooperator in a better position to manage their lands for a healthy deer

herd, while maintaining habitat integrity.

DMAP

How do we decide which bucks to Harvest?

Management Objective

Harvest Fewer but larger antlered bucks

Must protect young bucks

How do we decide which bucks to harvest?

Numerous Methods...

Point Restriction….8 or more PointsInside Spread….>14”Beam Length….>17”

Combinations of the Above

Why Point Restrictions are Bad

• Points are worse predictor of buck age• Good Habitat = yearlings can have 6-8

points

• MSU Antler Research: – Points are worst predictor– Spread and Main Beam Length are best

age predictor

Hopefully you have learned a few things about QDM and the goals of...