First, if you're looking to bash QDMA and the idea of managing deer or "TDM," forget about posting, I don't want your opinions. So, anyone here that's a QDMA member, have you found the organization helpful and educational? Their magazine? What other resources, other than the obvious, do they have? I ask because I/my family are planning on doing a lot of work to our land this year here in WI and I'm looking for ideas other than what I have. We have 560 acres and a good base of good bucks, we just need to refine our food, mainly. I'm thinking that becoming a QDMA member may be beneficial and very educational. What are your opinions?
I am a member.. for the insurance though. If I had land I would certainly be one. They have a great mag Dan.. really good stuff on aging... deer nutrition etc.. really top notch if you ask me. For a land owner of your size.. you should without a doubt get it. Besides just food plot mumbo jumbo.. they have A TON on native plants that deer prefer.. getting the most out of acorns etc. You won't regret a subscription.
I knew you were member Mike and expected your opinion. Thanks. Funny you mention acorns. We maybe have 3 oaks on that 560 acres. Its not the typical land that people associate with WI, such as Buffalo County. Its flat, lots of clay and very wet. A few farm fields around, but not much. It could almost be considered big woods. The thing we have a ton of, and quality to boot, is bedding. Just lacking that extra food.
I'd be planting Oaks if I were you. I once read an interesting article on a non-native Oak species... I believe it was Swamp sawtooth.. or maybe just sawtooth.. I forget now. But.. this non-native Oak bears more acorns then our native Oaks combined.. and deer love them I guess. Supposed to grow relatively quickly once established. Don't know if you can grow them up there though.. the article was about some dude in like Alabama who was having great success with them. Either way.. you should probably look into planting Oaks.
Thanks again Mike. I was planning on looking into oaks, but don't know how well they will take. Like I said, very wet and heavy soil and cold ass winters. It'll be interesting to do the research and find the answer to that and a lot of other questions.
I'm a member and I completely agree with everyone else. The magazine, forums and events are all very educational and it's a great group of people to be affiliated with. Top notch organization that is definitely worth joining in my opinion.
We have a speicies of white oak here that thrive in wet soils. I used to have many (just timbered within the last year) of these trees on one of the properties I hunt, they produce very nice sized acorns and drop a ton of them. I believe this is the same tree Duke is speaking of above. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/trees/oak_wh_swamp/tabid/5402/Default.aspx
Not to hijack too much, but Sawtooth oak's can produce quite quickly (around 8 years or so for their first crop of acorns). If you don't have many oaks, and if your conditions for planting are good, I would look into planting some of these. I'm not a member, but do visit their website and forums often, and like Duke mentioned, there is a lot of great all around habitat management and improvement information beyond just food plots.
Thanks Scott. It looks like the Swamp White Oak would be a great to plant long term. It's appears to be slow growing and begins producing acorns at 25-30 years, with the highest production in 75-100 years. Would be great for Wyatt and his kids. The Sawtooth Oak looks very interesting, for short term acorn production, but it may not survive our winters. It appears it will grow in regions 5-9 and we are in region 4. I guess we could plant some and see if they take off. Thanks again guys. Great info.
Wet, heavy soil isn't a problem for sawtooth oaks, but if you're in N. WI you're probably too far north for them to do well. Do you know what zone you're in?
I was reading more about it on another site and it said minimum 20 years for acorn production... I didn't realize that. You should see the amount of acorns one tree will drop on the heavy years though. They produce mast every year as well which is very nice. I still have a few of these left on a neighboring property I can hunt as well, but their location is not any good for anything but does. These trees are deer magnets once they start coming down, they drop earlier than any of the other oaks there as well.
I was a member but have dropped it since I decided not to hunt my place in PA last season. Everything Duke said was true though. The one biggest mistake I feel people make when trying to make their properties better is neglect bedding cover. It's "cool" to have plots, but people just don't focus on bedding for some reason. I did food for the first two years. The last two years, when I added bedding cover improvement projects, is when the bigger bucks started showing up on a consistent basis.
I echo everything Mike said. Quality Whitetails easily trumps Deer and Deer Hunting in my opinion. Every issue I have received I have read cover to cover at least twice, literally. You get great info on food plots, timber harvesting, browse supplementation, success stories of people who groomed their lands into deer paradise (these are extremely beneficial I find becase they often utilize unique tactics and strategies) natural browse deer prefer, etc. etc. Every article is worth reading.
I agree. The one thing I know we have going for us here is the bedding. I would rate it as good/very good. I plan on doing a lot of walking it in March and learning it even better. I'm sure there are going to be things to do to improve the bedding, but as of right now food truly is the priority. The crazy thing is, we have had this land for a long time and I never really used it. My family gun hunts it, but limited. I just never had the time because of my resort in Ontario. Since I'm turning it over to my brother this year, I plan on spending a lot of time here. Oh, and probably skipping Illinois next year or going very little. Going to be a great journey.
