Hey, i have seen some pictures of deer that are pretty small being shot. I do not know if that is what the population is like around you or how much land you have to hunt on, but do you use a quality deer management program or standards for harvesting animals? Up at my land, we have been working on this for the last 6-7 years now. I remember the post about how to tell a nubbin buck from a yearling doe. Why not harvest the momma and let the little ones grow, could have amazing genetics. here are 2 bucks that were mounted that harvest from the land the last 6 years, and what i hope i get to see this year. little slow and not thinking as well after going to the badgers homecomming football game and going out so i dont know if this post will make any sense, lol.


same guy shot those 2 bucks 2 or 3 years apart and 100 yards apart

this first pic is of a monster that mounted and mated a doe 15 yards beneath me last year but i did not have a buck tag!!! my buddy had one and i was tempted, he was on the other side of the ridge. im happy his genetics were passed on and i think he is still around.


my buddy shot this at my land while i slept in that morning, figures... 2 years ago


now here is some of the nicer buck pics i have gotten this last year.

DBL DROP TINE




sorry for the long post, just watching some hunting shows this morning and getting antsy! i have nov. 1-5 off of work to devote to nothing but hunting.

I use QDM very strictly but some of my properties are smaller with very small acreage. so it doesn't show as much in some places.

QDM is the ONLY way to go in my opinion. It's where modern management and common sense meet!

It still amazes me though that there are folks out there who refuse to raise the bar and continue to shoot yearling bascket raked bucks every season..... while complaining that there are NO big bucks in there area..... DUUUHHH!!!

well, i come back to this thread and see that there are 3 people who have no idea what QDM is, if someone has a good read about it please post it, it would be to much to type right now while the packers are playing. I agree il-cornfield, it is what you have to do if you care about deer hunting and want to shoot mature bucks "Monsta Bucks"... that dbl drop tine buck i have pictures of will not be shot on our land for 2-3 years, but some may be like wow, non typical, thats mine right now.

I TRY to practice it. It is very hard on our land. I attempt to pass up all smaller bucks.My farm is 365 acres, and it gets gun hunted hard. There are only about 4 to 5 of us that pass the smaller ones up, and the other 5 let the lead fly on them.

I have shot some nice looking 2 1/2 yr. old bucks, and it is always my goal to shoot something bigger than what I have the year before, until I get a fully mature whitetail. So far my largest is a 117inch 9 pointer that I got last year. Not a monster, but I proudly display him on my wall. When there are not many monster mature deer running around, you have to take what you can get. I don't really blame others for not using, as it is there land and there choice.

If I owned my own farm there would be 2 rules:
1) Earn a buck...must shoot 1 doe before you can harvest a buck.
2) NOTHING that is 2 1/2 or younger.

This is of course not possible in large groups with different outlooks as to how they see a deer,

well i'm on a lease land with my best friend and his dad. it's only 60 acres of hardwoods. last year was my first year on the land deer hunting it. i shot a 9 pointer 108 3/8", also my first buck bow kill. this year the 3 of us made a pact that if's it's not pope and young, then that guy pays for the other two guys leases. our biggest problem is the neighbors. the one neighbor across the street also does QDM, which is good. but the other two neighbors could care less! follow the link to the one the 3 of are after this year... this is on our first food plot, only like a quarter acre. next year it should be about an acre.

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=2399194

oh yeah, i can't believe some of the smaller bucks taken on here! hope they are peoples first if anything!

il outdoors, is that the bushnell infra red, like 349.99? i have one as well and this is the first time i set it up on video, has been pictures so far, have you used the video? Well, that camera that you took the pics in that other thread over the food plot.

Me and my brother have 160 acres we hunt and we don't take nothing thats usually under 125 inches. The problem is that our neighbors that hunt the land that is around ours pretty much shoot any thing brown during gun seasonthat they see. A few years ago i had let 6 different six pointersthat i had numerous oppertunities to shoot (1.5 year old bucks) go by and only to see them hanging from the neighbors tree at the end of the weekend! All six were hanging in that tree, that is so frustrating! These are the same guys that are complaining thatwe don't have no big guys around no more!

Yes, QDM is the best thing to ever happen to deer hunting. Passing up the smaller bucks is always a good feeling, because you know that basket 6 you just passed up could be a 140'' 10 pt in 3 years. My group uses QDM very strictly, and we only shoot bucks that score at the minumum of 125'' gross. Most of us won't shoot a buck unless we are certain he is at least a 3 1/2 P+Y book.