Outdoors: White-tailed deer organization helping change hunters' attitudes

The stereotype may always exist that hunters are backwards types, but that depiction isn't exactly true.

At least not where the Athens-based Quality Deer Management Association and like-minded outdoorsmen are concerned.

Spurred partially by changing technological times and an emphasis on science, as well as by the conservation movement's emphasis on herd and land management, many hunters' attitudes have evolved in time.

"I think there's been a total attitudinal change to deer hunting altogether," said Randy Bowden, the QDMA's director of marketing and corporate relations. "It was a male, macho, Bubba sport for so long - and it might not be far from a male, macho, Bubba sport now - but as hunters, we've all matured. And the younger set coming up has a totally different attitude toward hunting than I did when I was coming up. They're taught a different way."

For instance, it wasn't until about 10 years ago that deer hunters harvested more does - once considered a no-no among the macho hunting set - than bucks. But today, hunters increasingly realize that maintaining some element of balance between the deer's age and sex ratios is essential to the overall health of the herd.

Still, some old-school hunters will always stick to their guns, so to speak.

"We all know some people that will never kill a doe in their lifetime - it's just philosophically not gonna happen. They can't bring themselves to shoot a female deer," QDMA chief executive officer Brian Murphy said. "The youth of today don't have a problem with it as a whole because they've been brought up under a different mindset. We've seen huge changes in hunter attitudes in Georgia."

That, essentially, is why the QDMA exists. The non-profit organization - which has been headquartered in the Athens area since 1997 and has 50,000 members in all 50 states and several countries - wants to educate hunters and land owners as to the most effective ways to hunt and contend with white-tailed deer.

Georgia has approximately 4,000 members in the organization, including about 2,000 within a 60-mile radius of Athens. A $30 annual adult membership is open to anyone with an interest in white-tailed deer hunting and management.

QDMA data shows that its members reside in 90 percent of the counties in the United States that contain white-tailed deer, and that those members own or manage more than 15 million acres of land.

"That's a significant footprint for conservation," Murphy said. "And on most of those acres, it's safe to say that they're better managed today than they were a decade ago."

Murphy's statement is likely true if those landowners follow the conservationist tactics that have become more popular in the last 15 years - much like those stipulated in the QDMA's principles.

The movement isn't simply about enriching the herd through maintaining a balanced age and sex ratio, it also focuses on land owners providing a quality habitat to support the deer and other wildlife who reside in the area.

"If you wrapped it all up and ask what QDM is really all about, balance is a good summary," said QDMA director of communications Lindsay Thomas. "Balance between the number of deer in the habitat, balance between the

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