Current ORMC Guidelines

 

These are the current guidelines as set by the Oak Ridge Management Cooperative.  Again, these are guidelines.  To achieve the objectives of the ORMC, everyone should use this as a minimum standard for their hunting parties.  You may set higher standards if you wish.  This will help us to achieve our objectives even faster.  Here they are:

 

  1. 8 total antler points.
  2. Minimum outside antler spread to the ears when the ears are in an alert position (sticking out to the side).  This is actually the most important.  The ultimate goal is to let all the yearling and most of the 2 ½ year old buck live.  If a deer has met this guideline, they are at least 2 ½ years old, regardless of number of points.  If you don’t have much time to judge or the deer is some distance away, this is the easiest way to determine if the deer is a shooter.
  3. No more than one buck per hunter.  If you take a buck, make it worth it so you won’t be tempted to shoot another one.
  4. Aggressive adult doe harvest.  When you see more than one antlerless deer, take the largest one.

 

Mistakes will happen.  The best thing you can do is put yourself in a situation to be able to make a good decision.  The more we can limit our mistake kills, the less stringent we can set our future guidelines.  You can limit your mistakes by attending our meetings and becoming educated on distinguishing between older and younger deer.  There are also several resources distributed by the QDMA that can help.  Join the QDMA for help on this.  Perhaps one of the biggest things you can do to limit your mistakes is to stand hunt only.  Most mistakes happen when you are forced to make quick decisions.  Big deer drives do not allow you to take your time when deciding whether or not to shoot.