Swamphunter Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: Do you support.............. [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Im going to have to honestly answer no to this one.I think this antler obseesion is doing more harm to this sport then it is good.If people were truly interested in making a healthier, better balanced deer herd I might change my opinion but for every guy that is in it for that reason it seems theres two other guys that only want the end result to be bigger bucks. The mindset that follows is one where you got hunters cutting other hunters down for shooting small bucks, nieghbors fighting over the practices they use while hunting, and generally people trying to impose thier hunting philosophies on everyone else. That being said I dont shoot small bucks, I let dozens of them walk every year.I kill a lot of does, I buy all the extra doe tags I can when available and will use my either sex tag on does when the end of season is near.I get to hunt longer and enjoy my time in the woods more this way, it may not be for everyone though. [/ QUOTE ] If theres anything that bothers me about some of my fellow sportsmen it's those highlighted words above! You can tell that they are even on this forum too! Just let someone post a pic of a small racked buck and notice who does Not respond...or they respond with something like "Glad your happy with it" <----and you can bet the Smirk Smilie they add is intentional. I've said it before and I'll say it here and now: "If your focus in Hunting is so narrow that it's all about the 'Horn' your missing out on such a big part of the Complete Joy involved with Hunting". I'll admit that my comments and attitude about the subject come from my hunting mostly Public Land all of my life. You try telling a State Forest Hunter to "Let'em Go so He can Grow" and they will probably tell you, while using very colorful words, what exit you should take. Dont get the wrong idea...I now hunt some private land and I personally practice a form of deer management that attempts to reduce the doe population and I wont shoot very small bucks. To me it's simply not worth the time and effort to kill and then clean/process a very small deer. The thing that bothers me the most about the "QDM Movement" is that some people have taken what they think is the next logical progression and feel it's their responsibility to force it down everyones throat. Does QDM work??? Absolutely...where it can be practiced! As you can probably tell by now...Theres just been one too many people who have crossed my path that feel they have to QDM the whole world like it's some crusade their doing for their God There are still people in this world who are very happy just to go hunting at all...and to see any deer at all. To those people who dare not admit they are who they are...especially here on the forums...there really is no such thing as "Better Deer" or "Better Deer Hunting". I'll dare to say that those people see those statements as "Arrogance"...while the QDM people see those people as "Simple Minded". Their both probably right...and wrong...at the same time. [/ QUOTE ] I agree with Gary on this one. Although I try and practice good management by not shooting small bucks early in the season, I definitely would shoot a forkhorn as opposed to getting skunked with zero venison when the season end draws near. I don't pass on smaller deer early, solely because I want to see them grow. I pass on them because I want to have the longest hunting season and spend as much time in the great outdoors as I can. I do feel that we are getting to hung up on the antler size a bit, and I fall somewhere in between. I definitely like to shoot bigger bucks. I am somewhat curious as to what the antler restrictions and better population ratios could do if NYS DEC managed the herd for the sportsman, not for the interest of everyone. I would like to see bigger racks and a better buck to doe ratio, and am not even against giving some programs a try. I look at it this way. Talk to me about it, allow me to ask questions about it, let me advance at my own pace and don't cram it down my throat, and extend a "congrats" at least when I take a legal deer. There is a very good chance I'll come around if I evolve into the way of thinking that AR's and QDM, are great practices, as long as I can do it at my own pace, and not made to feel ashamed for shooting a legal buck, or to post a pic of my son with his first legal buck which may be a spike or forkhorn. That is the part that turns my stomach...we are all hunters, ethical hunters. Be thankful of that. The slob hunters do a lot more damage than an ethical fellow sportsman will do. But by all means, don't shun those fellow hunters who hunt legally and make fine, ethical, quick, clean harvests. Give them a "congrats"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QDMAworks4me Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: Do you support.............. [ QUOTE ] Careful folks! He did not ask for opinions about QDM. He asked about the QDM A . I take this as a question about the organization itself. It's not a question about Quality Deer Management. [/ QUOTE ] Thank you Joe, if you read what he asked it was if you believed in QDMA not QDM. I hate when people say that QDM is "JUST" about big horns and QDMA is the people pushing it on everyone. This could not be farther from the truth, there are people that are invloved in the organization that believe in AR's and trophy hunting but the group does NOT have a political agenda to get AR's and things like that passed. It is an educational group that tries to talk to hunters and get them to understand things that will help your olcal deer heard become more healthy, food plots, forest management, doe take and many other aspects NOT just grow bigger antlers. It is not what they are about. It is a proven fact that letting deer get older is healthier for the deer heard, we have had people come to one of our seminars that would shoot young buck after young buck during the season, no doe's and thought everything they were doing was great. After talking with our QDMA representative realized that there was a better way than to follow the same way he was hunting. Was his way wrong no there was just a better way to do things "because of your deer heard" not because of big racks. I encourage each of you who are passoniate about deer hunting to go to just one QDMA seminar and give it a try beofre you form a negative opinion. QDM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: Do you support.............. [ QUOTE ] Does QDM work??? Absolutely...where it can be practiced! [ QUOTE ] It CAN be practiced anywhere. Doesn't your fish and game regulate what can and should be killed in your state each year??? This IS QDM. It is not all about killing monster bucks! It is about maintaining a healthy deer herd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: Do you support.............. Honestly in the right place with the right situation and enough land I would be all for supporting the qdma and would get more involved, but under the circumstances here just think it is foolish to have expectations of being able to attempt to manage a piece of property unless you have cooperation from other hunters and or have a minimum of a sq mile of land exclusively for you to manage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: Do you support.............. [ QUOTE ] Honestly in the right place with the right situation and enough land I would be all for supporting the qdma and would get more involved, but under the circumstances here just think it is foolish to have expectations of being able to attempt to manage a piece of property unless you have cooperation from other hunters and or have a minimum of a sq mile of land exclusively for you to manage. [/ QUOTE ]We started with 120Acres 16 years ago. We gave them groceries, water, cover, and age. This last year the neighbors finally decided to give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaskMan Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: Do you support.............. Well I guess I'm as guilty as anyone for wanting to shoot a big buck but that doesn't make me a qdm guy. Quite frankly it can't be done here, the buck to doe ratio and that jargon, too many deer, not enough hunters. I guess I look at it this way, if 10 yrs from now I'm with my oldest son on his first hunt and out walks a little buck and he wants to shoot it, I'm telling him to aim and squeeze not telling him he can't because it's a young buck. So even though I like to think I support it, maybe I don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted December 1, 2006 Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Re: Do you support.............. I just dont know enough to answer that question. I am probably one of the least informed on qdma. So I need to read up on it and then ill know i hope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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