I hear everyone talking about QDM but I don't see the prrof. I hear everyone talk about letting 1 1/2 year old bucks grow a year or two before harvesting them. This ISN'T Quality Deer Management. I see pics of people who are strictly QDM but they are with spikes and forkhorns. How many people who support QDM have winter food plots for their deer? I am not talking about your corn field on your farm, I am talking about real food plots like Mossy Oak's BioLogic seed. Who puts out salt blocks every spring? Who cuts down trees/burns woods/remodels their property to help out deer? Who here waits for the deer to grow to 7 1/2 or 8 1/2 years old before harvesting? That is what QDM is. It is letting bucks grow to 7 1/2 or 8 1/2 that score ATLEAST 170". I just hear everyone talking about QDM but it ISN'T QDM, it is trying to help the deer out, but it isn't QDM. I know that I don't practice QDM, I may put out salt licks, this spring I am planting a huge food plot, but I don't wait for 170" class bucks, I will shoot anything over 130". I know that it isn't QDM, but it doesn't matter. I know that TRUE QDM will never work in Pennsylvania. A buck that is 4 1/2 years old will probablly not make it to 5 1/2 because he will either be shot, hit by a car, or die in some other way. I was just wondering who really practices it? If you don't believe me about what QDM is, watch BUCK FEVER, it is all about true QDM and they shoot bucks ranging for a 160" 4 1/2 year old deer because it was injured to a 206" 8 1/2 year old buck.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

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BM, I agree that there are many aspects of QDM that are not practiced by hunters claiming to be supporters of QDM. I don`t think that all hunters are able to participate in every aspect of true QDM, nor do I think that it is really necessary for them to do so. If a hunter is doing what he/she can to promote QDM, I think it would still benefit the cause.
I do agree that it would probably be better if all could plant food crops, shoot enough does to balance your resident herd, shoot only mature bucks, and cull substandard bucks, but that is not possible for us all.
By the way, I know you are going to plant some food plots this year, have you decided what to plant yet?

I am not really sure yet. I want something that will be really good for the herd but this is going to be planted in my back yard, which just happens to be about 3 acres. I have been looking on www.wildlifeseeds.com at some of their products. I have been thinking about getting their deer blends. I am looking at their 50lb Rackmaster Deluxe Fall Mixture, it is 45% Forge Wheat, 35% Forge Oats, 15% Winter Rye(Winter Grazer), and 5% Dixie Crimson Reseeding Clover. I am also thinking about purchasing their 50lb Spring/Summer Deer Mixture which contains 39% Soybeans, 19% Sunflowers, 19% Cowpeas, 9% Buckwheat, and 9% Millet. Along with those I am looking at 5lb Rack Master 308 Clover Seed Blend, and a 10lb Bag of Deer Greens Mixture which is made up of Rape-Kale & Turnips. The total is 111.75 dollars and that is for 115 lbs of seed. That is probablly what I am going to be getting and I will be planting it this spring. I will then fence my plot in for a month or two, then take down the fence and photograph them during the summer.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

I do let spikes and fork bucks walk,dont shoot buttons,or immature doe.I feed all winter long with feeders.I dont have any land to plant or i would.Since your full of energy and will have a big paying job when you get out of college.You can buy us a big peice of property in Iowa and Ill grow them for you. And you can shoot them. DEAL??????

I'm 58. I don't have time for QDM<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle> If it's brown it's down just as long as it weighs more than a German Sheppard. Then after I get a couple I start letting them walk waiting for something nicer. Two years ago I was holding out for the rut and a big one. About the first of November my leg went bumb and I had to have a little surgery. About the time that got healed(a month) my heart had some problems and I lost a couple more weeks. SO, I no longer put off until tomorrow what I what I would regret not having done yesterday.<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle> You young guys go ahead and practice QDM, I need some backstraps. And guess what.... if I catch a fish I eat it too. The only part I release is the bones.

Edited by - davidmil on 02/26/2002 07:47:51

Some of us hunters do not have land to plant food plots on.I know I let a 4pt and a 6pt walk during archery season this year.I can also tell you I bet they were shot by another archer or gun hunter later on.Some will argue that is why
A/R will be in place next year in Pa for QDM.It will only last for one year because when the smaller bucks become legal,most bucks in my area it will only take a year,then like always 90% will be shot during buck season in one year. The only way to control QDM as you stated is to control your own land and that may be by fencing it depending on how much land you own.That is why out west they fence their land or their neighbor or other hunters will shoot the deer they are letting go for QDM.I don't agree with fenced in deer I like the deer to run wild where ever they want to go.I agree with you BM that is exactly what QDM is in my book not just letting bucks go for one year and then shooting them.
Also I don't beleive in shooting the largest bucks of the herd if they still have potential to grow as will be done this year in Pa.Also if you don't protect the button bucks coming up you won't have any bucks to worry about QDM.

I know that alot of people don't have the land to do true QDM, but there are people who have land, praise QDM, but don't know what it truly is. That is the whole point here. I am glad that everyone tries to support and help their deer herd, but it isn't QDM.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
&quot;Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE&quot;

I practice QDM on my property big time. The entire 2 acres. I have nothing but woods no openings except my yard. So I fertilize the white oaks on my property. And I put out feed almost all year. I spend enough on corn and purina deer blocks and sweet horse feed every year that I could buy a new bow or rifle every year. My kids and I like to watch the deer out the kitchen window we see them all the time. My deer are definitely fatter than the other deer in my area. And the does always have twins and sometimes even triplets. My wife says I cannot plant the back yard in Imperial Whitetail Clover, even though I told her this is good for the deer. She just doesnt understand. But when the deer eat all her flowers she said kill em all. It is perfectly legal for me to bowhunt in my backyard and lots of people rag on me for taking one or two but if I dont get em someone else will on the farms behind me.

I agree most don't have the option, and never will on public land. You do whatever you can, and know you helped. I take my mature does each year, and then wait for a mature buck. Even on heavily hunted state land. I took 3 does, and then a 5.5yr old 8 pt off public land here in NJ, so I did my part. I can't roll in there with a plow, and I can't stop people shooting every spike they see. I do what I can, and hope it helps. Where I hunt in MD, the land is leased, so it's easier to pass up the younger bucks, they just might make it until next year. There's plenty of food, no need to plant anything, and a pretty good Buckoe ratio. I let the little guys walk, and shoot the does. Again, doing my part. I never got a shot at Mr Big this year, but found his shed, so I know he passed his genes along, and he'll most likely be there next year.
Now where I hunt sika deer in MD, I try not to shoot does, just because I'd like them to expand their range. Not exactly QDM, but I'd sure like to see more of them over a larger area. That's what would be &quot;quality&quot; to me.