You don't have a clue what you're talking about. I'm into a soil health initiative program that is zero till, I've been away from conventional tillage for years. Yes I am building soil and I am building soil organic matter....it's easily possible in spite of the BS propaganda you've read for years. Go look into soi lhealth initiative, learn about soil microbial life, nutrient recycling, soil carbon seqestration...maybe put on your big boy panties and drop a lot of the crappy snide tude and then come back and we can have a grown up conversation once you learn a thing or two. Yeah...mother nature is doing a fantastic job of growing deserts too....
If either are selfish, its the shoot what ever you want attitude. I am not saying it is wrong or that I am against it, I am the first to say if the deer makes you happy, take it and be proud. But, shooting what ever you want is more about YOUR wants, meaning it is selfish. Not wrong, just how I see it. Again, shoot what makes you happy and be proud, from a single sided spike to a 225" monster and doe as well of course.
I am sorry but I don't get it. How can you say that I, who wants to shoot whatever I like to fill my freezer and saying you can also shoot whatever you want is more selfish than you saying that you would like to shoot older/bigger bucks so we must regulate somehow and therefore I will have to shoot what you want me to. so to put it very simply: 1)you shoot what you want to, and I'll shoot what I want to -or- 2)you shoot what I want you to, and I'll shoot what I want to - which is more selfish?
Sure, I know what a monoculture is...I was asking because there had been no mention of any monocultures until now that I had seen in this thread and I thought maybe I missed a post somewhere. Monocultures aren't necessarily "bad" for soil health when we're talking about crops but stacking a specific monoculture year after year on the same soil deffinitely is bad. I don't stack crops and it's not recommended in sustainable farming practice. Each seasons monoculture crop is followed by diverse cover crops depending on the crop rotations cycle, warm or cool season. In fact I no longer grow monocultural crops in any one field. I plant alternating strips of grass crops with legume crops and wheat I plant diverse mixes of wheat/winter pea/crimson clover and tillage (Nitro)radish. Then in folowing years the strips and crops in each field rotate or cycle through the rotation plan. This feeds the soil's microbial life with diversity and carbon and adds diverse soil organic matter while cycling nutrients in several feet of soil. It scavenges extra N that otherwise leaches away and has cut my fertilzer/pesticide usage by half.
Sounds like you are making the best of it. Farming is not perfect, but there has to be a give and take when you are feeding the planet. I thought you were leading into monoculture being a positive for the environment above. Good luck hunting this year sir.
life's too short and everyone's got a trigger finger so can't just sit around waiting for a 5 year old or better. i climb in the tree to kill deer and have fun
There is deffinitely a better route to farming, I was raised on conventional tillage but it's long gone from my practices as are monocultures or stacked crops. There aren't all that many of us practicing the sustainable methods but it's a rapidly growing venture and for good reason. Having been around to the farm shows and several dealers, etc...talking with farmers in my area lately...I'd guess it has been adopted or tried for the first time this year at a rate of at least 20% locally. We have a winter conference every year in Salina KS and attendance is growing at an incredible rate every year. I love it...I'll never go back to conventional tillage. I thought I'd hate it but for anyone that simply likes to "produce" stuff...this is heaven. I have green fields all year around except for a short time when crops are ready to harvest. Soil is incredible, animals are fat and healthy and I ca neven graze cattle on my crop fields at certain times. Thanks, same to you.
Wow too many pages of this!!! Covey is someone who QDM's for himself and made that clear. All this about QDM helping the earth or improving it??? K that's where you guys lose me. Lets be serious here, unless QDM has a chapter about destroying your car, house, company at which you work, 90% of the population in your town and replanting all the trees we cut down in order for us to have these precious fields we hunt. QDM does nothing for nature, it just helps raise more healthy deer. Period! QDM is Quality DEER Management. Forcing QDM on people who hunt for meat is a oxymoron. Meat hunter likes a nice young one. And most hunters are meat hunters. The new Ontario Canada record was discovered this year. It was scored something crazy in the 200's gross, but had some big deductions bringing it down from the world record. It was killed 4 years ago and the hunter never reported it. A friend came over and saw the skull cap sitting in a wood shed. It will be released at shows very soon I saw it at the taxidermists myself a few days ago and even have a picture. Point is this guy shot that, and even after he was told he has the new province record and potentially top ten world record he didn't care. He invited the guys in to see a "bigger buck" he shot before. They came inside to see a 150 class buck as the hunter went on about this 150 class buck being almost 300lbs. Again hes talking meat "bigger" he don't give two ****s about the bone. So again QDM is for some, and for others its not. Don't force that on anyone cause its for some a oxymoron.
CoveyMaster, You know your stuff. I know some of what you've been talking about here. Good info! I agree with allot of what you said. Good bunch of posts. Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk now Free
I like the idea of QDMA and would like to start a co-op among the landowners around me(this winters project). It is hard in VT because the state has so many small tracks of land that you have to bring together to get a couple thousand acres to manage. I personally am a meat hunter first, I have six kids. I also like nice antlers on bucks. Until I can set up a QDMA area I have set a personal policy of letting small 3-6 pointers walk, but once they get outside the ears, no matter how many points Im gonna shoot it. if I don't then the guy next door will. Most of my meat for the freezer comes from does in an unlimited antlerless zone in another state. If I could ever set up a couple of thousand acres to manage for QDMA then I would probably let everything under 130" walk and maybe higher and I would keep the buck to doe ratio no higher then 2 doe for each buck. So in the end I dont think either is selfish. It's America, and as long as we are not exterminating the species, then shoot what makes you happy!
I know for myself; my quest for big antlers made me lose sight of what I cherish the most about the outdoors. I found myself rendering season after season as a failure only because I hadn't a sent anything to the Taxidermist. It wasn't till a close friend told me that hunting with me was painful because of all my complaining I realized I was being extremely selfish. Justin I know I didn't answer your question but your post reminded me how my craze for big antlers affected my behavior and how I viewed my friends, family and bow hunting. You will be happy to know I was able to salvage my friendship and also planned several DIY hunts to places I've never been to so I can recapture my sense of adventure.
I for one try to let the small ones walk and focus on bigger prizes but there has been a time that I would shoot any buck that wonders by. I am not one to judge. Yes I have let deer walk and then the neighbor kills him a week later but I suppose that made him really happy and if I would've shot it, it wouldn't have had a chance to live. Might as well give them the chance to make it.
