To answer the question, not many ppl truly want to go down the path to what it takes for true trophy management. It’s a lot of work. The first thing you have to do is improve habitat. It don’t matter how old deer get, if you’re not maximizing high quality browse they will not express their potential. Second order of business is getting the population to a level where they never exceed the carrying capacity of the habitat you’ve worked hard to provide. Given you’ll likely continually recruit deer, killing gets monotonous. Third, to achieve true trophy status you have to be willing to pass on the trigger until deer reach a minimum of 5 or 6 years old. 6-8 is actually ideal. You have to be willing to work harder, shoot more deer to keep numbers and ratios in check, while letting more bucks walk until they reach full maturity (and that is not 4 years old).

Does it work? Absolutely, if that’s your objective. You can’t enter it with false expectations and a lot of times, when reality hits, some give up on it entirely.