QDM Results

[muddyboots]

I didnt want to hijack the other thread but wanted some opinions.
Tell if these results are good, bad or somewhere in between.

Lease #1 - 900 acres mix of pines and hardwoods and clearcut - 13 members. There are no set rules shoot what you want but you subject to enormous amounts of ridicule for shooting small bucks - This year 4 bucks 115 or better - 5 immature bucks - I have no idea how many does.

Lease #2 - 450 acres - 8 members - select cut areas and small food plots and creek bottom - 3 bucks 115 or better - 1 immature buck - no idea on does.

I think both these places could be alot better with some work and trigger restraint but from the other post i am taking that this is good. Am i wrong in thinking that these could be alot better?

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

That's pretty good for the amount of land. Unless you are hunting rich river bottoms, 115" deer are most likely 3.5+. Actually killing 7 of them off 1350 acres total is pretty darn good, especially if you are shooting a few small ones every year.

 

[muddyboots]

Amazing i would think we could do better.

 

[SNAG]

You are doing good! But with a specified management plan and a few rules it could get even better!

 

[8 POINTS OR BETTER]

Across the road from one of your leases there has been 3 mature bucks killed over 130", one mature buck that had one side broke off, two 2.5 that would push from 105" to 115", and one 1.5 spike. Off of about 1100 acres that me and my neighbors try to practice QDM on. There may have been more than that killed, but these are the ones I know about, I have not talked to one of the neighbors in a couple of weeks.

 

[muddyboots]

Yea i know we can do better but some people are not of the same mind set as others. Which there is nothing wrong with that but probably gonna be some changes made.

 

[BSK]

The buck kills on the 450-acre lease are good. We only average 2-4 good bucks per year off 488 acres.

More can be achieved from the 900-acre lease due to the number of immature bucks killed.

 

[8 POINTS OR BETTER]

If someone would have told me five years ago that we would be killing 130"+ bucks on a regular bases I would have told them that there is no way to do it in our area. Up until 3 years ago I had not seen over a handful of bucks killed from my area, in my life time that would go over 130". Yet in the last three years we have killed 5 that I would score 130"+.

 

[BSK]

That's amazing results 8 POINTS.

Before we started our program, if someone would have told me we would be killing the number of 3 1/2+ year-old bucks we are, I would have thought they were crazy. Prior to management, our low buck population consisted of 75% yearlings. A 3 1/2 year-old buck was a true rarity, and mature bucks didn't exist. In 7 years of traditional management we killed a grand total of two 2 1/2 year-olds and one 3 1/2 year-old. Now we can do better than that in a single year, and we usually kill at least one mature buck a year.

Now antler growth per age-class isn't great in my area, but since 2004 we have had at least one buck using the property that would top 140 every year, and quite often a buck topping 150. Unfortunately, that's usually NOT one of the bucks we kill, but we have done it a couple of times, and one of our hunters missed a near-140 mature buck this year.

 

[muddyboots]

If someone would have told me five years ago that we would be killing 130"+ bucks on a regular bases I would have told them that there is no way to do it in our area. Up until 3 years ago I had not seen over a handful of bucks killed from my area, in my life time that would go over 130". Yet in the last three years we have killed 5 that I would score 130"+.

Yea i am across the highway from him and i think it can be way better. Time will tell.

 

[megalomaniac]

IMO, taking 1 buck per 100 acres is a little excessive if you want to have a huntable population of mature bucks.

Eliminate the 5 immature bucks annually, and you could probably expect to kill 6-7 3.5 y/o's every year off that property.

 

[BSK]

Eliminate the 5 immature bucks annually, and you could probably expect to kill 6-7 3.5 y/o's every year off that property.

Off 900 acres, agreed.