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<blockquote data-quote="BigDave12" data-source="post: 5274753" data-attributes="member: 13595"><p>Sure TNTreeman.</p><p></p><p>I grew up in southeast GA (been in TN though since 1992) and started managing hunting property when I was there - even when I was a teenager. In southeast GA (back then at least), the buck to doe ratio was seriously imbalanced. People believed in shooting lots of does. I learned early on that if you do that, then your likelihood of seeing high quality bucks went down a lot - especially as pressure increased. But, does are extremely essential to a healthy deer herd. After all, that's what the bucks chase but they are also what keeps the population going.</p><p></p><p>So, we started managing our lease back then with food plots that provided the does a high quality food source year round. It was the basic stuff back then (peas or soybeans, rotating to corn, sorghum, winter rye, winter wheat, winter oats, etc), but it worked for our areas. Even though it doesn't get very cold in southeast GA, a deer's dietary needs do still change from season to season. With that, we implemented some strategies for harvesting deer too. </p><p></p><p>Those on our lease were allowed to primarily harvest their does during bow season. Gun season started the 3rd weekend in Oct so muzzleloader didn't play much of a role. Then, it was bucks only through Thanksgiving. As we did this, our members were becoming more interested in taking more mature bucks because they were actually seeing more bucks during gun season. And as pressure increased around our lease, even more bucks were showing up during daylight that we had never seen before. Our 2nd year of this, one of our members killed a 17pt on the 2nd weekend of gun season. We then allowed doe harvests again for the last two weeks of the season but no more than 2 does per hunter (or a maximum of 3 does for the whole year). This was all on a lease that was only 200 acres but had 8 members. </p><p></p><p>What I learned from all that was that if you provide the right nutrition for does, preferably year round, the healthier your deer herd will be - even on small parcels. The fertility and mortality rates seems to improve, the fawn population seemed healthier, and the local doe groups seemed to increase in size (used to be only 1-2 does together with their fawns but became 4-5 does together with their fawns). The bucks will still modify their travel routes throughout the year, but the does tended to have a more localized home range. This meant that the more comfortable and healthy the does were, the more likely they were to stick around throughout the year. This in turn, led to the bucks taking advantage of the food sources year round and also frequenting our parcels more often during the rut cause that's where the ladies were. We saw that the younger bucks seems to have better racks earlier earlier in their life than in the past too. Remember, this is all in the late 80s and early 90s, so I'm writing this the way we "learned" it back then (there was no internet and wildlife management wasn't widely spoken of). We believed that while the doe numbers were still high, we were actually seeing an increase in bucks too - creating a little better buck to doe ratio on our lease than in other parts of the local area. We believed that the deer seemed less stressed on our lease and that seemed to carry on throughout the season (somewhat of course) due to our harvest restrictions.</p><p></p><p>Ironically, Dooley County in GA began the first QDM restrictions that we had ever heard of about the same time we were doing what we were. Dooley County was about 2-3 hours away from where we were doing our "stuff" so we weren't neighbors by any means. So, I guess you could say our lease began our own form of QDM that we were aware of at least and it sure worked for us. </p><p></p><p>Since being in TN (since 1992 but started hunting TN in 1996), I have found that managing for does tends to work best here too. I still prescribe to taking does during bow season and really restricting any further doe harvest during the season on our lease (but it's only 100 acres with about 40 acres of huntable land). Now's the time to say I'd love to find a closer place to home and larger but I digress. We try to only harvest mature bucks (4 1/2 yrs old) too. We now plant our food plots with better nutrition sources (clovers, turnips, radishes, winter peas, vetch, chickory/other brassicas, etc) but we still also include the normal winter wheat, rye, oats, etc.</p><p></p><p>We really focus our hunting efforts on travel corridors to and from our food sources as opposed to taking deer off those food sources all the time. We still take a deer or two from the plots but we use the plots more to understand the travel patterns more so. Does pick up on human presence and increased traffic just as bucks do, so we still focus on being smart about how we get to and from our stands and we use lots of no-scent spray. Getting picked off over and over on small tracts can be detrimental.</p><p></p><p>We have also learned that many times we have to be untraditional in our hunting methods. For instance, on small tracts of land your options for moving about can be really restricted. So, when many people wouldn't think of going into a stand when the wind is "wrong", I will tend to save some of my best places for that exact time. When I do so, I hunt from the ground (I never hunt from an elevated ladder, lock on, or climbing stand in these situations), use lots of no-scent spray, and utilize a good bit of doe estrous scents around me (especially the spray type). You would be amazed at just how many bucks (and does because they recognize a comfortable scent) will come to that scent when it is carried directly to them by the wind - and most people say never to get upwind of a buck. In fact, I used this exact same technique when I took the buck in that picture And, I had seen 3 other does before I had him come thru chasing 2 mature does. By the way, I shot him at 15 yards too. </p><p></p><p>Again, for me, if you build it, then they will come. Since I don't own the properties I hunt unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of major land or timber management to assist in major habitat improvements. So, we focus on improving the doe population and health, managing how and when we harvest our does, and the bucks tend to benefit from it all and show just a little more often for us. Larger tracts may have a need for a different plan, but this has worked for me on every small tract I have managed.</p><p></p><p>Hope this helps.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BigDave12, post: 5274753, member: 13595"] Sure TNTreeman. I grew up in southeast GA (been in TN though since 1992) and started managing hunting property when I was there - even when I was a teenager. In southeast GA (back then at least), the buck to doe ratio was seriously imbalanced. People believed in shooting lots of does. I learned early on that if you do that, then your likelihood of seeing high quality bucks went down a lot - especially as pressure increased. But, does are extremely essential to a healthy deer herd. After all, that’s what the bucks chase but they are also what keeps the population going. So, we started managing our lease back then with food plots that provided the does a high quality food source year round. It was the basic stuff back then (peas or soybeans, rotating to corn, sorghum, winter rye, winter wheat, winter oats, etc), but it worked for our areas. Even though it doesn’t get very cold in southeast GA, a deer’s dietary needs do still change from season to season. With that, we implemented some strategies for harvesting deer too. Those on our lease were allowed to primarily harvest their does during bow season. Gun season started the 3rd weekend in Oct so muzzleloader didn’t play much of a role. Then, it was bucks only through Thanksgiving. As we did this, our members were becoming more interested in taking more mature bucks because they were actually seeing more bucks during gun season. And as pressure increased around our lease, even more bucks were showing up during daylight that we had never seen before. Our 2nd year of this, one of our members killed a 17pt on the 2nd weekend of gun season. We then allowed doe harvests again for the last two weeks of the season but no more than 2 does per hunter (or a maximum of 3 does for the whole year). This was all on a lease that was only 200 acres but had 8 members. What I learned from all that was that if you provide the right nutrition for does, preferably year round, the healthier your deer herd will be - even on small parcels. The fertility and mortality rates seems to improve, the fawn population seemed healthier, and the local doe groups seemed to increase in size (used to be only 1-2 does together with their fawns but became 4-5 does together with their fawns). The bucks will still modify their travel routes throughout the year, but the does tended to have a more localized home range. This meant that the more comfortable and healthy the does were, the more likely they were to stick around throughout the year. This in turn, led to the bucks taking advantage of the food sources year round and also frequenting our parcels more often during the rut cause that’s where the ladies were. We saw that the younger bucks seems to have better racks earlier earlier in their life than in the past too. Remember, this is all in the late 80s and early 90s, so I’m writing this the way we “learned” it back then (there was no internet and wildlife management wasn’t widely spoken of). We believed that while the doe numbers were still high, we were actually seeing an increase in bucks too - creating a little better buck to doe ratio on our lease than in other parts of the local area. We believed that the deer seemed less stressed on our lease and that seemed to carry on throughout the season (somewhat of course) due to our harvest restrictions. Ironically, Dooley County in GA began the first QDM restrictions that we had ever heard of about the same time we were doing what we were. Dooley County was about 2-3 hours away from where we were doing our “stuff” so we weren’t neighbors by any means. So, I guess you could say our lease began our own form of QDM that we were aware of at least and it sure worked for us. Since being in TN (since 1992 but started hunting TN in 1996), I have found that managing for does tends to work best here too. I still prescribe to taking does during bow season and really restricting any further doe harvest during the season on our lease (but it’s only 100 acres with about 40 acres of huntable land). Now’s the time to say I’d love to find a closer place to home and larger but I digress. We try to only harvest mature bucks (4 1/2 yrs old) too. We now plant our food plots with better nutrition sources (clovers, turnips, radishes, winter peas, vetch, chickory/other brassicas, etc) but we still also include the normal winter wheat, rye, oats, etc. We really focus our hunting efforts on travel corridors to and from our food sources as opposed to taking deer off those food sources all the time. We still take a deer or two from the plots but we use the plots more to understand the travel patterns more so. Does pick up on human presence and increased traffic just as bucks do, so we still focus on being smart about how we get to and from our stands and we use lots of no-scent spray. Getting picked off over and over on small tracts can be detrimental. We have also learned that many times we have to be untraditional in our hunting methods. For instance, on small tracts of land your options for moving about can be really restricted. So, when many people wouldn’t think of going into a stand when the wind is “wrong”, I will tend to save some of my best places for that exact time. When I do so, I hunt from the ground (I never hunt from an elevated ladder, lock on, or climbing stand in these situations), use lots of no-scent spray, and utilize a good bit of doe estrous scents around me (especially the spray type). You would be amazed at just how many bucks (and does because they recognize a comfortable scent) will come to that scent when it is carried directly to them by the wind - and most people say never to get upwind of a buck. In fact, I used this exact same technique when I took the buck in that picture And, I had seen 3 other does before I had him come thru chasing 2 mature does. By the way, I shot him at 15 yards too. Again, for me, if you build it, then they will come. Since I don’t own the properties I hunt unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of major land or timber management to assist in major habitat improvements. So, we focus on improving the doe population and health, managing how and when we harvest our does, and the bucks tend to benefit from it all and show just a little more often for us. Larger tracts may have a need for a different plan, but this has worked for me on every small tract I have managed. Hope this helps. [/QUOTE]
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