QDM-How do you feel about it?

[JB Florida]

In the South, more & more leases are finally catching on that if you let a little buck go he will be bigger next year.
What do you do?

Is it catching on in the West with mulies & elk?

 

[schmalts]

I wish it would catch on more where i hunt. I have been doing it with a few other landowners but we need about 40% more to join in for the best results

 

[Deerslayer]

JB......every western state has it's form of QDM..........hence the preferance points and hard to draw limited qouta areas.

Back in the south.......I liked it, but thought it should not be mandated but more voluntary. There was ample enough game and the lands to support them, with population explosions happening in most southern states finding deer more and more in our suberebs and highways as well as in our woods, and the best population control methods were liberal tag limits. If a club or lease wanted to self-impose QDM that's great, but the general public should not be madated to it when deer numbers continue to soar out of control......JMO

 

[dgibson]

I think QDM is great, but there's a lot more to proper management than just letting small bucks go. A big part of the responsibility lies in reducing doe numbers, as well (in areas with high populations, that is). Throughout much of the south populations are relatively sky-high and the last thing they need is more "bucks only" mentality.

In other areas with a decent-sized herd and proper buck-to-doe ratios, it only seems logical that if you leave the small ones alone they stand a better chance of growing into big ones.

 

[Tom]

If people don't do it here, they are out of it. Its well established. There's still people that won't shoot a doe, but somebody else will do it. It seems like lots of biologists advice people to have their deer population on the land set for the worst of years in terms of weather and food for them. People who have spent years getting their deer herd up in numbers then hate to shoot a bunch of them. So, we feed them a lot. If we don't, they go to the neighbors feed. Just some observations and comments.

 

[schmalts]

I agree, some guys knock QDM, but then complain when the wildlife managers tell them the herd is too big. Between me and my freinds 160acres we took 15 does last year, and some of the other landowners scorned us for it. So far this year we have seen more buck activity than ever before. due to the better doe/buck ratio. We were a little worried last fall when we killed so many but now its seemed to have worked for us. We figue we could kill that many every other year and be helping the herd

 

[1_pointer]

If done properly its great. You get a much healthier herd. The problem IMO is that too many people don't understand that you have to shoot does to get this. One buck can breed many does. I'd love to own/lease some property someday to try it myself. Anyone interested in this definitely needs to check out the works by Valerius Geist(sp?). He offers some great insite into the biology and management of deer.

I have no problem with QDM being mandated by the state on public lands. Management on private lands should be up to the owner somewhat.

 

[JB Florida]

I have seen a dramatic change in our family place since we started 10 years ago.
And DGibson, I'm with ya on the Doe Slaying.
The least we have taken is 25 does-per-season for 10 years. If we have time we will remove more of them.
We have it down to 2 per buck now but that can change in a season....I have already seen a pair of doe with TRIPLETS (YES that = 6 little ones) I think we could easily take 5 doe per 100 acres in this area.

DS..I asked about the mule deer & elk because the only time I hunted them was NW colorado and we saw nearly 20 does for each buck......it was pretty off the scale.
(I'm trying to figure out the limited draw area that was across the street from the place we hunted...I saw several HUGE bulls there. Our guide said it was a trophy draw unit) I'll tell ya when I find it!

schmalts - if its like down here the more you shoot the more that move onto your place from the neighbors!
Baiting is not alowed in alabama and i'm glad. The game officers use ultralights to patrol the blackbelt counties and they bust a lot of them

 

[dgibson]

Another problem I see with it is that it seems to be difficult to implement on an individual level. I do all I can on the 100 acres I have access to, but the guys on the next 100 acres down the road may not. I let the little guys walk and shoot a lot of does, but what good does it do if the next property over does just the opposite? It seems to need a lot of cooperation (or a lot of land under one manager) to make it work. That's where the states are coming from in wanting to mandate it--unless almost everyone's on the same bandwagon it won't work. Or will it?

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 10-25-2002 12:18: Message edited by: dgibson ]</font>

 

[MEATHEAD]

QDM IS A GOOD THING.BUT LETS LOOK AT THE OTHER SIDE, LETS SAY EVERY ONE DONE THIS, WOULD IT STILL BE AS MUCH FUN TO GO HUNTING AND SEE 150 OR 180 PLUS DEER EVERY TIME YOU WENT HUNTING. I KNOW THIS WANT HAPPEN,QDM SHOULD ALWAYS BE DONE ON THE PERSONAL LEVEL. IT WOULD BE HARD TO TAKE A KID OR NEW HUNTER HUNTING AND TELL THEM ITS TO LITTLE, CANT SHOOT. I JUST DON'T WANT TO TELL SOMEONE WHAT A TROPHY IS.BOTH MY KIDS TOOK NICE DEER THIS YEAR ONE WAS A 7 POINTER AND THE OTHER WAS A 8 POINTER BOTH DEER WERE ONLY 18 MONTHS OLD.SHOULD I TELL THEM NOT TO SHOT BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE SAID THIS IS NOT A TROPHY. THIS IS NOT JUST WITH KIDS THAT THIS HAPPENS ,IKNOW ALOT OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE NOT TAKEN 130 PLUS DEER.THAT IS WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL TO TAKE A BOOK DEER NOT EVERYONE HAS ONE

THIS IS JUST MY OPINION AND WE ALL HAVE ONE

 

[JB Florida]

Good Point Meathead!

The rules we use do not apply to someones
FIRST DEER! Man I cant wait to take MY BOY!
How old are yours when they first went?

 

[MEATHEAD]

MY SON WAS 8 WHEN HE TOOK HIS FIRST WITH A MUZZLOADER,AND MY DAUGHTER DID'NT TAKE ONE TILL SHE WAS 10. BUT MY SON WENT TO HUNT THE FIRST TIME AT 7.

 

[MEATHEAD]

THE DEER MY SON TOOK WAS THE 6TH ONE HE HAD TAKEN AND WAS ALSO THE BEST. MY DAUGHTER DEER WAS THE 4TH ONE SHE HAD TAKEN ALSO THE BEST. ALSO I WAS AND STILL AM VERY PROUD OF DEER THEY HAVE TAKEN.

 

[FLIPPER]

The only way QDM will work is, if you fill every doe tag available to you.


I know guys that set there and let does and small bucks pass....just hoping for that BIG buck to pass by. And never using their doe tags.


I on the other hand will be in Kentucky in a couple of weeks, where there is a chance to kill a big buck.....but I will not pass does waiting for one. Look how many people a year travel to BIG buck states and never kill does, and these states are begging for them to shoot as many as possible.

 

[JB Florida]

Thats COOL meathead

I bet that was exciting!

Flipper, We get a STACK of tags!
Other than the first 2 weekends, I shoot the first doe I see with out a fawn (6months old at the beginning of our season)
or If a doe has 2 boys....history
You know the ones that get behind your stand and blow at ya? I'm trying to remove that paticular gene from Wilcox County Alabama


And truthfully, I wacked a doe last year opening week of gun season and killed my best buck yet about 20 minutes later in the same spot

You are right though, most will not do what it takes to really remove a number of does.
I can actually be a lot of work.
There is all those bullets ya have to carry
Then talk about butchering 10 or 15 in an evening is quite a job...

 

[Muledeer4me]

This is so strange seeing how many deer some of you guy's can shoot in a season.
I have alway's liked to clean,skin and butcher, but holy crap after doing 6 animals this year I think im done in.
How do you guy's get through all of those's?
Do you do your own cutting & wrapping?

 

[Mini Moose]

It works in different ways i think, last year i could kill a doe in pretty m,uch every unit of the state and i ended up killing a doe this year i could have killed a doe opening morning so i found out but i didn't take the shot because i wanted a buck for all the hikeing i did then i wasn't passing on a 2-point to wait for a bigger deer i just took it.

But in the same regard i would love to shoot a big booner buck buti am not going to hold out for one because you can't eat antler and i would rather have meat then a tag.

But there are hunters that want big bucks and they do pass on the smaller ones and on does so makeing it manditory to pass on small bucks would work out for them because well they wouldnt' shoot it anyways but for inexperienced and meat hunters it is not something that should be inforced. I think i repeated myself a bunch in this post sorry for that

 

[schmalts]

Just got back from hunting. Man, i saw more buck activity than i ever had on my land. Saw 2 bucks this AM and 4 this PM, including the biggest one i have seen on my property so far, about 155-160 class. I think it may have to do with all the doe we killed last year.
Meathead, its a personal choice on what you want to do, but the program will not work to its potential unless you have at least 500 acres enrolled. You said your kids shot a few bucks already so its up to you if you want in the program or not, does are fun to head shoot too!
The guy next to me said he would do QDM with me but he wanted his kid and wife to be able to shoot anything, i asked him what the point was then, for me to pass on the little bucks so his family could shoot them? i told him to follow the rules of what QDM prescibes or dont talk to me about it.
Its up to you, I would first ask your kids this question; Do you want to shoot a big buck next season or a small one like last year? then explain the program to them if they choose the first question. If you ever hunted a property that was well managed, you would have no doubts about it , but it takes a few years of holding back from shooting.
Its also hard to talk your surrounding landowners into it. They all say the same thing, "if i let it walk someone else will shoot it" Maybe so, but only if they dont talk to the guy on the other side of the fence.
Something to think about..

 

[MEATHEAD]

I STILL THINK QDM IS A GOOD THING . IT WORKS BEST BEHIND 2000 ACRES FENCED . IN TN YOU HAVE 50 ACRES HERE 200 ACRES HERE 5 ACRES HERE YOU HAVE NO BIG PARCELS OF LAND.

 

[Deerslayer]

HHAHAHA Deb.....you would have had a blast hunting deer with me in the south. Where I lived, you could buy some 12-14 tags a year withing a hundred miles of where I lived.....deers they were aplenty ...takes a little adjusting to the "one and done" way of life in the west.....