Hi, I've got roughly 400 acres (250 that I own) and another 150 leased. I am trying to implement QDM on my property. My neighbor has 4-5 hundred acres bordering the southern and southwestern line of the 150 that I lease. The 250 that I own is north of the 150 that I lease. My neighbor pay hunts, and for some un-godly reason, he is 6-or-better. So naturally, we see a lot of 6 pts or smaller. I've tried to lease his property from him, but he will not. Any reason why I should continue QDM? The 250 that I own is where I was going to do some TSI to try and hold more bucks, but if he is shooting all my young deer, what difference does it make? Guess I'm just ranting, but would love some constructive feedback.
i agree. with that much acreage there is bound to be some big boys roaming. anything you do would help
I share your frustration, and I can totally relate. I only have about 150 acres that I control. All my neighbors are farm boys who only hunt rifle season...usually out of their trucks driving around in fields. They will shoot anything they see (young does, bucks, old does doesn't matter). For years I would completely discourage myself from passing on small bucks and wasting money planting food plots just so the neighbors could kill them off. Finally I decided regardless I would just do my part to manage the herd, and see what happened. I spend hundreds of dollars each year of food plots and deer nutrition, I have numerous trail cameras and I know about deer that are running around that the neighbors can only dream of. If you keep up the hard work, try to stay out of your property as much as you can in hopes the deer take up refuge there and don't wander to the neighbors, your had work will pay off. 5 years ago I would be excited to get a small 6 pointer or 8 pointer on camera. I now have several 140 to 150 class 5 1/2 year olds roaming around and a large number of 2 1/2 year olds that have GREAT starts and genetics for future bruisers. These deer figure out real quick how to avoid those neighbors that don't know what they are doing. Sure you will lose a few small bucks and does each year to the neighbor, but there is no way they can kill enough to discredit the work you will be doing. Keep up the good fight and you will see the rewards! If you have more questions feel free to pm me! Also, if you would like to check out a great tool for QDM and property management you should go to www.huntsync.com. It is a FREE site that I have found extremely useful for hunters in the management of their property. Check it out, and if you like it...tell all your friends!
