Your QDM plan

[slughunter]

I thought it might be nice to open up a post for everyone to share their goals, plans, and results of their management. We have been doing managment on our farm for 2 years and management on my buddy jakes farm for 3 years. My farm is 20 acres but we have acess to over 400 in surrounding farms. On this farm we are gonna plant some smaller food plots, set aside some woods for sanctuarys, and were going to do something new and thats to dig a small pond down in the valley were the water runs through.

On my buddy jakes farm we are doing stronger, more restricted managment. We did some clear cuts already this year and got some nice food plots going in. We also have been making sure to leave the giant 100 acre woods alone as much as possible and have it as a sancuary. The entire property out there is 250 acres and we have been getting our doe to buck ratio into a better proportion than it was. We have also been making box blinds with windows as to protect us from spreading to much scent around. We also are making sure that bucks we shoot are outside the ears or better. In the past 3 years that we have run this plan we have taken 4 mature bucks, a 182 inch, 136 inch, 147 inch, and my 121 inch buck from this year. Both farms are still a work in progress and hopefully we can start to get the full results soon.

So what are your goals, plans, and results?

-shane

[deerslayer79]

Re: Your QDM plan

Hard to really manage deer in my area,I pass up the small bucks and does but the yahoo's that hunt next door will shoot anything brown on 4 legs.I took my stepson hunting for the first time last year,kinda slow evening and saw a maybe 60lb buttn buck at dusk and my stepson said there's one.I told him he needs to grow some more and we would let the little guy go,Low and behold as soon as that little guy crossed the property line,BAM,the buttheads next door busted him,my stepson asked why the guy shot him,I calmly said the guy next door is a ****...

[QDMAworks4me]

Re: Your QDM plan

Here are some of my long term goals:

-Increase the brush and cover on our property

-Increase the browse for the deer

-Increase bucks sightings during the day light hours

-Increase the rut activity by taking at least 10 does per season

-On average take 3, 3 1/2 year or older bucks per season between 5 hunters

Short term goals

-Get rid of the beavers that have flooded our property

-Find a way to get rid of some of our local coyote population which really messed up our deer movement this year

-Increase food plots on our property, we have 100 acres of tillable land which is alfalfa now so we are looking into planting corn and brassica

These are just some of the goals I can think of right now

[Texan_Til_I_Die]

Re: Your QDM plan

Managing 7000 contiguous acres

Approx 600 acres in cultivation - mostly winter wheat

6 wells for water during the frequent droughts

6 supplemental feeding stations dispensing 18% protein pellets free choice year round

Conducting a spotlight census every year to determine total deer numbers and buck-doe-fawn ratios. Doe harvest numbers are determined by the census results.

Buck genetics management to remove all bucks with unbranched antlers, all bucks over 3.5 years old that have 8 points or less, all bucks over 4.5 years old that won't score a minimum of 150 B&C.

BTW - This is actually more Trophy Management than QDM.

[LETMGROW]

Re: Your QDM plan

My QDM plan???

Quiet Down Marc!

Everytime he comes with a brainwave it costs me $$$

[Born2Hunt]

Re: Your QDM plan

Lots and lots of money!

[wtnhunt]

Re: Your QDM plan

Have pretty well given up on attemtping to manage our small property, but do have some plans for the year written out on a piece of paper. We will still utilize and maintain food plots, will still be somewhat selective about what we kill, but think we will not be as selective as years past.

[bowhtr1]

Re: Your QDM plan

Hey, QDMAworks4me, I like your goal to see more bucks in the daylight. What do you do for that. Maybe it is the coyote's. But they hunt at night. ??

I have two properties, one is 400 acers the other is 120. On the 400 I pass small bucks and take only 8 points or better unless I see a cull deer. (not many or those around) We plant and put our mineral sites. The rest that hunt with me will kill anything that doesnt have spots. I stick to my guns anyway and keep on them about the small deer. On the other land I do the same but no one else hunts it so I can see the plots, mineral licks and the fact of not shooting small bucks working.

[deerslayer79]

Re: Your QDM plan

Sorry,had a brain fart and went totally off topic,ususally 4-5plots between1-1.5 acres on 4 seperate farms we own.I plant iornclay cowpeas,a 85 day corn for summer and fall,and leave corn standing in winter.In mid fall I usually plant winter wheat/oats and turnups/brassicas for food through winter.This year I might give sugarbeats a try..

[QDMAworks4me]

Re: Your QDM plan

[ QUOTE ]

Hey, QDMAworks4me, I like your goal to see more bucks in the daylight. What do you do for that.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are a couple of thing that I do to try and see more bucks in the daylight hours. A big thing that I do is not overhunt an area. I only hunt a stand 2 - 3 times in a row and leave it alone for awhile. I also have a scent lok suit which helps keep human odor out of the area.

Another thing that I try to do is take my does early in season so that it increases the rut activity and competition for breeding rights, the fewer doe's you have the more rut activity you will see. Another thing that is nice, is if you live in cold climate like I do if you take you doe's early you will have more food for the winter for the other deer that you have on your property.

And the last thing that I feel works is making sure that your property has what the deer want on it. Make sure food water and lots of cover.

In theory all this is supposed to work

[QDMAworks4me]

Re: Your QDM plan

[ QUOTE ]

My QDM plan???

Quiet Down Marc!

Everytime he comes with a brainwave it costs me $$$

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah Lynn, but he does not have to twist your arm very hard to get you to go along with his plans

[Rhino]

Re: Your QDM plan

We manage approximately 2,800 acres on our club. This will be the 2nd year of our new buck criteria program. 4 of the neighboring clubs are on the same or similar programs so the cooperative acreage being managed totals about 10,000 acres. Our buck criteria is geared toward killing 3 1/2 year old and older bucks. To do that for this area our bucks must have either a 14" inside spread or at least one main beam that measures 18". Our annual doe harvest goal is 40. We do whatever it takes to try to meet our doe harvest goal by December 15th. Our rut usually kicks in during the last week of December so we want the doe killing over and done with before then.

Last year we killed 17 bucks with 15 of those meeting the criteria. Bucks killed that don't make the criteria carry, lets say, a $200 trophy fee.

We will be planting ~23 total acres in summer food plots. That's 12 of our bigger plots out of a total of 44 that we plant in the fall. We also have 21 mineral licks spread out around our place.

Water is not a problem around here. We have plenty.

Looking forward to growing bigger and better deer in the coming years.

[Adjam5]

I have 60acres of family hunting land that I manage in NYS's 3H region. Our land borders a 400 acre hunting camp that shoots anything and everything . That changed last year with the implement of antler restrictions( 3 on one side) in the region, so thats over.

I had a ONE rule on the land when you hunted deer.

NO SPIKES!!! Unless it is your 1st deer and you qualify age wise(16 and under) to harvest a buck under the antler restriction rules of NYS. To get a doe tag in our area, one needs 3 preference points

( when you are turned down for a doe tag you accumulate points, until you have 3, you dont get a doe tag in regular/gun season, you could use your either sex bow tag, but then no buck to bag with the bow. It might take one 3 years to be able to shoot a doe with a rifle or shotgun.

I wait until muzzleloading season to take does. Those are either sex tags.

The land has about 20 apple trees that were very old,overgrown and I brought them back into health with liming and pruning. There are 2 small food plots on the land, plenty of water. The land is covered with blackberry, blueberry and rasberry bushes. We got some real good bear pics last year, but no one shot it or even saw it. A 12lb. bobcat was taken 2 years ago on our land.

We shoot coyotes, racoons, porcupines and skunks whenever we can. They are the real turkey killers( they eat the eggs and wreck nests). We also have a beaver problem that is being worked on.

I am hoping my sons shoot their 1st deer on that land like I did 20 something years ago.

Just yesterday as a matter of fact, I ordered a lot of 90 wildlife specie trees from the NYS DEC nursury to plant up there. It was $30 for 90 trees, made perfect sense to me. I am constanly looking to improve the land up there. My son and I cut many saplings 3/4 way so there was browse for the deer. The trimmings of the apple/cherry tree pruning I did in the last 4 weeks was left on the ground and the deer ate all the buds of them.

I can only get up to the land/camp on weekends, so time is limited.

But I try to improve the land every year for wildlife.

[SoybeanMan]

I am in the #1 rice producing county in the US. Rice is of not attractive for deer except to lay down in and get away from the mosquitoes. But it is rotated with soybean. I plant soybean in the summer and follow it up with wheat in the fall. Around the house, I work it up and plant Roundup Ready Forage soybean with a John Deere 7100 30 inch planter and broadcast the wheat. It does not take much for wheat to sprout on top of the ground. I also have a hay farm that I put out trace mineral blocks for the first time last week and plan on broadcasting wheat on the edge of the timber line this year.

[Guest CajunHunter_7]

Well

I have a reverse thing I do for the rut. During the summer we Feed Corn( Oh yeah and we hunt over it too.) Yeah How bout that one! But we try to attract lots of does and stop shooting them 1 or 2 a person about 3 weeks after the season starts. Then we keep on dragging them in and Durring the rut we actually see more bucks than if we didnt have the does in. Think about it like this Pressure is good. But if you walk in a bar and see 3 or 4 old trashy girls you gonna leave. But you walk across the street and theres 7 qwomen and 4 or 5 guys wouldnt you stay at door #2?