Hi, I’m David Morris. Are you tired of seeing mostly does and only the occasional buck … and then, he’s a little fellow? Are you interested in seeing more and bigger bucks WHERE YOU HUNT? If the answer is “YES,” then you’re ready for management.

Now, I know you’re probably thinking, I’m a deer hunter; not a deer manager. Well, the truth is: If you hunt deer, you ARE a deer manager. You see, every time you decide to shoot or not to shoot a deer, you’re making a management decision…for the good or for the bad. Management is, after all, anything you do to impact a deer herd – from manipulating native habitat to planting food plots to feeding high-protein pellets to culling inferior bucks to shooting does to hold numbers down. If you want your management decisions to be good ones, you need solid information. In this series, we’re going to try to provide that information…or at least raise the right questions so you can seek out the right answers.

Management is really about ways to change the playing field to improve your hunting lot. What can I do, you ask? My place is small, or I’m on a lease and can only do so much. I don’t have thousands of acres like the big guys do.

Well, no matter what your hunting situation, there are things you can do to put more and bigger bucks in front of you. Whether you own land, lease or hunt by invitation, you can do something to help…thus becoming part of the solution instead of the problem. From just making good decisions on the deer you harvest or simple attraction to all-out herd management or full-blown nutritional programs, you have options that will improve your hunting situation and outdoor enjoyment. For some, even on small tracts, the results can be nothing short of amazing! Incredible success stories are popping up throughout the country…on tracts once thought to be too small for quality deer management…as hunters and managers who wouldn’t accept conventional wisdom as fact rewrite the book of possibilities.

The fact is: If you want better hunting, you really don’t have much choice. Across America, overcrowded, stunted herds, over-browsed habitat and shot-out buck populations are far too common, and that’s bad news for both the deer and deer hunters. We may have already passed the point where simple steps, like shooting more does or laying off the young bucks, will restore deer health and quality and the good hunting of yesteryear. In many places, aggressive management is the only answer, and by getting involved in management, you’ll be able to give back more to your sport than you take out. That, in a nutshell, is “good” management!