Ames Plantation

• Hunting Club
  • Membership Application
  • Newsletters
  • Notes and Notions
• Photo Gallery
  • 2007 Deer Harvest
  • 2006 Deer Harvest Part 1
  • 2006 Deer Harvest Part 2
  • 2006 Deer Harvest Part 3
  • 2006 Trail Camera Photos
  • 2005 Deer Harvest Part 1
  • 2005 Deer Harvest Part 2
  • 2005 Deer Harvest Part 3
  • 2005 Deer Harvest Part 4
  • 2004-05 Trophy Bucks
  • 2003 Trophy Bucks
• Research Findings
  • 2005 Census
• Guided Hunting

Notes and Notions

QDM is sometimes mistaken for Trophy Management. Each has its own objectives. But they are different. QDM manages a deer herd so that the sex ratio is balanced and there is an increased number of older bucks in the herd. This sex ratio and herd structure is “natural.” It is what would be found where a herd is non-hunted, but exposed to natural predation.

Usually where the restrictions associated with QDM are not practiced, the younger age classes of bucks are heavily harvested and the sex ratio is not balanced, although the sex ratio may be less out-of-balance than some might expect. Non-restricted hunting serves the very credible wishes of many hunters. It supplies values that are prized and simultaneously maintains the resource.

However, QDM has a specific set of management goals and hunters are required to become practicing ecologists as well as hunters. This can be good. Experiencing nature with increased knowledge likely increases satisfaction. It is a knowledge perhaps akin to that of many old time hunters because they had time to hunt, lived closer to the land, and had a very real need to put meat on the table. However, with restricted programs like QDM there is sometimes a tendency to focus on the more “showy” parts of the experience. On average, older bucks sport larger antlers. Some will have very impressive racks. Pure unadulterated expectation of the heartthumping buck can load the QDM program with unrealistic expectations. Ames is devoted to keeping hunting as purely focused on the wonder of the basic values of a cherished outdoors experience as it is the provision of reasonable expectations of success.