Hey I started watching Bow Hunt Or Die last night - loved it! had to get a little sleep for tests today so I didn't get far. I noticed that you guys have decent bucks all over the place! I know its a show and there are probably 2 days in the field for every shot of a decent buck, but that still screams QDM at its finest. How many acres are most of the places that you guys hunt? I'm just wondering if size has anything to do with the equation. We have been trying to do QDM for about 5 years but we haven't really seen any results yet. We try not to shoot little bucks, and end up not taking more than one a year off our property which shouldn't matter much right? We control about 4-500 acres some of which are crops and part is separated by a road. But the part that we plant food plots and do habitat and do the most letting little bucks go is about 250 acres. I'm just wondering if this is enough to grow several nice 3 1/2+ YO bucks every year like it looks like you guys have in your videos. I know we have a little problem with the neighbors shooting whatever moves, but we can only take one deer a year here buck or doe and they only have 20 acres to hunt so they shouldn't completely wreck things for us, right? Any input is welcome, please let me know if you see something wrong in my equation! Feel free to ask questions too
Also anyone can answer not just the BHOD guys, thats just where I got these question from, watching their videos
I hunt a 80 acre piece. But the wood lot is 1000 acres. The bigger the area the more big deer it will hold. When everyone is on the same page it increases the odds of keeping big bucks around*
I myself try to harvest 3.5 year olds or better on the farms I hunt. With that said I'm not the only hunter on any of the properties I currently hunt. On some of the properties the guys will shoot anything that moves and others are more on board with harvesting mature whitetails. Regardless of what the properties around you shoot, stick to QDM standards and you'll see improvements. One thing is for certain you can't hunt dead deer. If you pass smaller bucks, they may live to see another year, they may not....but if you harvest them you're guaranteeing no growth. Just my two cents.
All you can do is have what the deer want on your property. If you don't, there is nothing stopping them from moving on and getting shot on another property. In my opinion, not only not shooting small bucks, but having the bedding, water and food sources to keep your bucks and does on your property is the key to them maturing and you getting an opportunity at them.
We do try to only shoot 3 1/2 yo bucks, we have food water and bedding, we dont really know why we arent seeing results.. Its confusing
Well QDM is more than just letting small bucks go. More focus goes on controlling the sex ratio, age structure of the whole herd, and improving the habitat. You can let all the small bucks go, but it will take them longer to show their true potential compared to areas that have great soil. Every year the buck is passed, he gets smarter. By the time he is 3 1/2 or older, he could be very tough to hunt. Now that he is mature, you have to consider your hunting tactics. Do you hunt smart? How much time do you put in the stand? Do you hunt the buck or just hunt along a food plot? How much activity does your property get in summer to the start of the season? There are a ton of things that could make the buck move to another area or just travel at night. If you have 400-500 acres I think you might need to look at your hunting tactics and stand locations. There's going to be at least one mature buck, if not more. Look at your stand locations. Don't put them at the end of the line (food plots), put them in the middle or closer to where they bed. If you move them between the food and the bedding you'll have to hunt smarter. Great access is better than great stands in my opinion. Try not to get stressed out by watching these guys hunt the deer they do. It has a lot to do with location and pressure.
We try to manange our sex ratio, the problem is we can only shoot one deer either or in MN here and we have way to big of a herd for 3-5 guys to manage. Im trying to improve the way i hunt every year, but the struggle continues. Im trying to move away from stationary box stands, but my dad is old school and has his big stand over the food plot. Im working on mock scrapes and mineral sites this weekend, and we do alot of food plots in the summer that are fall plots. We have crops here too so summer plots dont make a ton of sense for us. We will keep working on it put its always a never ending battle to shoot big bucks!
The biggest thing that stumps is is we see roughly 10 1 1/2 bucks each year, and maybe 1 3 1/2 ... And the neighbors don't kill anywhere near 9 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
To manage the size, maybe consider inviting a few friends or family in for a doe only hunting day. You could also keep an accurate count on your ratio and talk to the DNR about getting additional tags for managing purposes. Tags are issued by estimates, but every property could be different and they should realize that. Not sure how your property looks but there are endless possibilities with that much land. Try talking to the other hunters about low pressure stand locations. Also work on making a big plot for feeding that doesn't get hunted, but have small plots in between the feed plot and the bedding. You can use the smaller plots for hunting as long as you have good access to these with the wind in mind.
Your 1 1/2 year old bucks are going to disperse quite a bit as they age so they may be moving out of your area. They also tend to roam during the rut more than you may think. So while your direct neighbor may not be shooting them, someone 2 miles away may be. As others have said, there's more to QDM than just passing young bucks. That's a pretty good starting point but if you don't have the proper food, and maybe even more importantly, the proper bedding and security cover, those bucks won't stick around once they begin to mature. Mature deer tend to seek out the best available cover in a given area and then push the younger bucks out into the less desirable areas. Think of it this way - a mature buck spends something like 80% of his life in or very close to his "core" bedding area. Most of his life is spent bedded down, laying low, and staying safe. He's going to find the best spot to do that in his given area and push out the subordinate bucks. If you don't have that security on your property, the buck simply won't be there. Now you may have the food that the buck wants to eat, but if it's far enough away from his bedding source chances are you'll never see him during daylight unless it's the middle of the rut and he's chasing tail. Otherwise it will most likely be dark by the time he gets from wherever he's bedding to where your food is. The big exception here will be during brutal winter conditions. I think that's the one time a year when bucks will sacrifice bedding for food as they need it to survive. So in your case those 1 1/2 year old bucks are starting to get smarter when they become 2 year olds. Especially in heavily pressured areas. As they get smarter they realize what areas keep them safe from predators (hunters) and start spending more of their time in those spots. Again, if that spot isn't your property then all of a sudden these deer just disappear. As for me - I've killed the vast majority of my better deer on ground that was 100 acres or less. I've been hunting some bigger, better ground the past 2 years and haven't managed to kill a thing...
Sounds like you just need to keep doing what you are doing. i hunt different tracts of land anywhere from 80 to 400 acres and have killed multiple 4 and 5 year old bucks. as long as you stick with your management plan and have good nutrition for your herd eventually you will have big ole bruisers to chase. As for the neighbors talk to them and see if they are interested in joining your management plan as well, i have had good luck with that as well. let me know how your season goes this year and if you have any other questions feel free to ask. -Dalton
Most of my farms are under 100 acres but my neighbors amd I are on the same page as to what gets shot. We share photos we get of shooters and the not shooters so we all are on the same page. QDMA is probably the only reason we all see and kill mature bucks. id say food plots are number two. with protein all year round they are less stressed and can put on a lot of inches with the proper food sources. If mineral is legal where your at that also helps your antler growth. Correct habitat and food sources and I think everyone can see big boys. Hope this helps. FYI my best deer farm is 12 acres. But its a transition area between a couple of bigger farms. I plant 4 @ of food on it and usually see 10-15 shooters a year on it. But this year that farm got whipped out with ehd so I seen one. Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk
I think all the best points have already been touched on already. Personally I hunt 800 acres that we lease. Its 98% wooded with only a couple farm fields bordering it and we don't put out plots. Most of the ground is old strip mine ground and it would take thousands of dollars just to get the soil right. There are thousands of acres (wooded) that surrounds our piece we lease. Most people around us practice QDM but a hand full don't. I try for 3.5 on up on the Bucks and take a couple Does each season. Now as for my kids I teach them that if its something they want to shoot then do so, I will not deprive them of that. The property consist of awesome thick bedding areas, plenty of acorns and browse. It has plenty of water and diverse terrain features. I honestly don't see many shooters each season but work my tail off to kill one. Good luck in your pursuit, keep us informed how it goes! Dan Richardson
Tim and i hunt two different spots. One 360 acre tree farm that my family owns and we are slowly managing to add food sources but most importantly cover. This is where our success comes from and most our habitat management time is spent. Also lease a farm of 400 acres with 25% woodland and primarily ag which we dont have much for thick cover. We see the "one more year" deer quickly dissaoear. So dobt just think food think safety and create thick bedding in areas you can avoid pressuring. Couple with late season food sources and that should help you retain bucks and give them a chance to reach the age your looking for.
We have plenty of food sources during the summer and early fall since there is a lot of ag land within a couple hundred yards. We also have thick willows that we never go in and wet cattails that we never go in so I feel like those could potentially be good cover for mature bucks. We plant about 4-5 acres of rape/turnips each year which we feel is a great fall food plot. I dont know how our winter food sources are compared to what they should be. Ill try to work on a picture to post to give you guys a look at what i am talking about. Up until now 90% of our hunting this land is during shotgun season which is over the rut in MN if that adds anything
Here is a picture of our Land with some boundaries marked. We don't hunt all the stand locations at the same time, those are just our options. Please let me know if something stands out to you guys. The woods is 40 acres for a reference. Thanks!
