Don't forget that QDM dictates heavy antlerless harvests to keep herds well beneath carrying capacity of the range. It seems that is what all the fuss is about!
I am all for food plots and most of those plants are more nutritious than corn. The primary benefit of food plots is that it allows deer to get a jump on their nutritional needs coming out of winter which leads to better fawn production(more 'interest' on the herd) along with maximum body growth for all deer. Antler growth comes after that because antlers are a luxury and nutrition goes to body growth and fawn production first.
I think QDM is a great concept if it is not misconstrued to mean 'trophy buck management' which it too often is. It means quality bucks, does and fawns well within the carrying capacity of the habitat to support them.
Another thing to remember is that the bottleneck for northern deer herds is winter. Research shows that white-tailed deer at the northern edge of their range (N. Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, etc., etc.) slow their metabolism during winter as a survival response to lack of natural food. This is why wildlife agencies argue against winter feeding in yards. Deer simply cannot eat enough to obtain a positive energy balance during this time. The determining factors for northern deer survival during winter is what condition they entered winter in and how long winter lasts. Food plots improve nutritional condition during spring, summer and potentially fall and help wih this.
The other part of the equation is the timing of the hunting season, i.e. fall. It is well-documented that most white-tailed deer herds will earn about 30% 'interest' each year; in other words, about 30% of a deer herd needs to be removed each year during the hunting season just to maintain deer numbers and keep them from increasing. A pre-season herd of 1.5 million should have a harvest of about 450,000 just to keep even. Kill less, the herd increases; kill more and it decreases. This kill should be all antlerless deer, including buck fawns. I am not saying kill all the buck fawns; that is rediculous. But buck fawns have a higher mortality rate than other age/sex groups. It's just how it is. So people shouldn't get all bent out of shape about shooting buck fawns.
Lastly, although many hunters would like to see more deer (higher deer numbers) it must be remembered that the idea is to keep the herd not AT carrying capacity but well below it. The reason is that a herd at or above C.C. depletes the habitat, which then reduces it's C.C. From a hunting standpoint, the most 'harvestable deer' are produced by a herd that is about 1/2 the C.C. Fun stuff!!
