QDM


AaronS

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Re: QDM

My hunting season is always cut short being in the military. Pretty much if it's brown it's down. However, it just so happens I usually take a nice buck every year wink.gif. But doe are another story. I am after meat, not trophies wink.gif But hey if one comes along, so be it. Nothing wrong with QDM though for those who hunt on a regular basis and hunt the same land year after year. Me, I am always having to learn new land every 3 years or so except for the land I hunt in PA.

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Re: QDM

It all depends how much time i have to hunt, if its only a couple days, and i only have a buck tag, the first deer with one horn over 3 inches long (legal antlered deer) that comes into the crosshairs is goin' down. if i have a fair amount of time, i'll pass up a little one.

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Re: QDM

I and the other guys I hunt with started a program about 5 years ago.

We hunt about 300 acres of farm and bottomland in Southern IL. we have always had a great herd with a handfull of nice bucks. But it was only about every 5 years a wallhanger was killed. We cut down on yearlings at first, and nailed any doe we could. there were critics at first and still are, but we consistantly nice deer every year and have had wallhangers the last 3 years. We've even reached around us to others that hunt adjoining land and have had some cooperation.

Like always there are critics still. These guys still shoot everything they see, but have since benefitted from our program. So with this we have urged them to be more selective, but they refuse to, saying that the quality of the herd isn't due to our efforts. which is BS.

But every little bit helps. If only 10% of the ones i pass up live thats more for next year.

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Re: QDM

I dont own land, and I dont belong to any groups that practice QDM.But I dont shoot every bucks that walks past me either.Mines more of a personal choice, i dont get the excitement outta killing little bucks I did when I was younger, and with all the the doe tags currently available theres no need to shoot them to fill my freezer either.

Even though I hunt public ground I try holding out for a bigger buck and let the little ones walk.I realize that as soon as shotgun starts 99% of the small basket racks ive let walk are going to be killed anyway.But the 1% that make it are the ones Ill be chasing next year.A lotta years I dont shoot a buck anymore, last year I never even aimed at one because nothng I seen was anything I felt the urge to shoot.

On the bright side Im seeing a lot more bowhunters around here being selective.The shotgunners still arent but with the party hunting laws, wide open terrain, and a very short season, theres probably not much chance of it ever catching on with them in my area.

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Re: QDM

[ QUOTE ]

Is it that most people think that with their shotgun/rifle season they just dont have time to be selective in what they shoot?

[/ QUOTE ]

Mnhunter , cant speak for anywhere else but here theres a lotta things that come into play with the shotgun season.

First is the season length, first seasons something like 5 days, second seasons closer to 2 weeks.But considering that most people have jobs they only get a couple days to kill thier deer since they can only hunt weekends.

Second Iowa has some pretty liberal party hunting laws where everyone can keep hunting untill all the tags are filled.So now instead of one guy trying to fill his tag in a couple days you got anywhere from 1 to 30 or 40 tags that need filled, the more tags in the party the less selective they seem to get.

and 3rd, the DNR only gave out buck tags here for many, many years.No does were allowed to be shot.So you had guys trying to fill all thier parties tags, in just a few days, and the only legal deer were bucks.While the regulations have changed, the mindset hasnt in a lotta gun hunters.They still go out and hunt the same way they did for most of thier lives, which means shooting bucks only.I cant blame them for any of this really.The DNr made the rules they played by and its the only way most of them have ever hunted so if its got antlers its going down.

Bowhunting on the other hand I can hunt for the better part of 3 months.I see more deer, that are less pressured, and can afford to be picky at least for awhile.Bowtags have been either sex since I started bowhunting so killing does when time gets short isnt anything new to me.

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Re: QDM

I've been practicing it, so this year I said what the heck and joined the QDMA chapter here in Vermont. Great organization and all the money raised here stays in Vermont.

In fact in July our club is holding the first QDMA shoot ever in Vermont to help raise money and awareness of QDM in Vermont.

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Re: QDM

Fly,

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you.

I guess i generalized most of the gun hunters around my area. Because deerhunting has become a trendy thing in my area. Partly because we have a lot of deer, and people from other areas are flocking in. I have no problem with people filling their freezer, but there are a lot of people just trying to get another pin.

Time isn't it at all. Last year i probably only bowhunted 10 days. I didn't take a deer because i was selective. In illinois shotgun season is only 2 weekENDS.

But QDM is about what hunters want out of their land. If people are content to fill tags and their freezer...great.

Once again, i'm sorry if i've offended. I'm not looking for a fight just giving my views.

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Re: QDM

I have only shot two deer in my 5 years of hunting... I've shot a doe and a small 5 pt in my second year hunting when i was 14. Since then i've passed up a loooot of deer. I'd rather have an empty tag than shoot a fork or a yearling doe. Last year i had some opportunities to shoot some bigger bucks, but just couldnt quite pull it off. I wish me and my dad had a piece of land to manage. Welp... maybe some day.

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Guest VenadoMacho

Re: QDM

I've been deer hunting since I was 6 and I can honestly say that in all that time I have only shot one buck that was 1 1/2 years old. For my first deer I wasnt allowed to kill any immature deer, I had to wait for a mature "managment" buck. Which ended up being a 5 1/2 year old 115" 8 pointer.

I just dont understand why people get off to killing young, immature, 4-6 point bucks. Makes no sense to me.

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Guest MarylandQDMA

Re: QDM

I started qdm on the land I hunt, got my hunting buddies hooked on the idea, then the landowner got hooked, then I got the one neighbor hooked as well. now I just need to work on the other 3 neighbors.

there is no local qdma that I can join, and I have often thought about starting one, but don't have the knowalge or time to start a local chaptor. I do belong to the qdma though. just joined 3 weeks ago.

Frank

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