A biologist that I respect gave a very good lecture on this subject. He basically stated that data is more important than memories. Everybody likes to remember the "good old days". He said he'd heard from many hunters over the years how good the hunting used to be in a certain area. He even recalled quite a few hunters telling him how good the hunting used to be at the Coosa WMA. These hunters recalled 20 racked bucks being killed on the opening weekend gun hunt. Curious, he went back and pulled the data. They had killed 2 racked bucks. This was just a short anecdote to illustrate what we all know to be true. Things didn't always occur just the way we remember them.

The data kept by clubs participating in QDM should show a trend of increasing body weights and better racks on younger deer (since they're getting more nutrition). 20 years ago, most 1.5yo bucks were probably spikes. Now, you're seeing more 1.5yo deer with basket 6 & 8 point racks and they weigh 20lbs more at that age. If you are practicing QDM and you're not seeing these results over time and have data to prove it, maybe your doe harvest does need to be cut back. You can't make that assertion on memory alone. You need some data on your herd to compare the results over time. This is why jawbone collecting is important in a QDM program. Body weights alone are not enough. You need to know the age of each deer so you can determine if that deer was below, above, or just average for their age. To say that QDM doesn't work is just patently false. To quote one old timer that I know "the paradox of QDM is that you'll see fewer deer but they'll be healthier. If you want to see a bunch of deer, keep 'em hungry."