Charles Alsheimer’s (“They Walk ’til They Die,” August 2008) article paints a bleak picture of QDM strategies on small tracts of land. Mr. Alsheimer’s efforts at QDM could now be augmented by petitioning the state for a later firearm season that occurs after the peak rut.  

Mature bucks such as these (photos from my farm) are the result of a firearm season that begins the first weekend in December, well after the peak rut.  I feel moving the firearm seasons out of peak rut will provide the quantum leap needed in achieving a more mature buck harvest.

Paul E. Marcotte is a Deer & Deer Hunting reader from Elkader, Iowa.

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