XArmy55

I wish it were the law to not be able to shoot anything under 3 points on one side period... Either a buck with 3 or more points on one side, or a doe... Could you imagine the nice bucks you would see and get if that were the deal??? It might be that way in some states I don't know, but it isn't in Mi... If you want a buck, shoot a big one (if you can)... Who wants a wall full of spikes and 4 points??? If you want meat, shoot a doe... There are too many anyway... Am I right, or have I not considered something???

Gulfwarsubvet

I agree with you totally. You can't eat the antlers. I've let probably 2 dozen small ones pass this year so far. The only exception I can see was in my buddy's case. The lease he's hunting will not be available next year, as we will be losing another farm in the county to a housing development. We don't allow any bucks to be taken on our property with less than 8 points and only 1 per year per hunter. They also have to be one that the hunter is willing to mount. No basket racks. If a hunter shoots a button buck, even by accident, it counts as his buck. This one rule has led to less yearlings taken. After about 5 years now, and with food plots and supplemental feeding, we are starting to see a lot more bigger bucks. QDM definitely works. I wish my state would add point restrictions. An exception may be for special youth hunts.

Tree climber

if you own the property you can have QDM , and do as you want.the only thing without owning , is you work and have a good program working and the herd has came about with good bucks and older bucks=(good rack bucks),then a bunch of Dr's. and lawyers come in and buy it from under you,or double you lease so you can't afford to keep it.[:@]
This has happened to us befor.manage the herd,get the deer where we wanted them , then lost the property.[:@].

jogadaman

I live in Indiana now, but am origionally from Pennsylvania. The county and adjoining county in Pennsylvania that I came from addopted a point system a few years ago. One county has a 3 point on one side and the other has a 4 point system on one side. Their goal is to cut down on taking young bucks and eventually to have larger bucks. Here in Indiana they changed the law to allow the harvesting of only 1 buck per year with either firearm or bow. Before we could take 2 bucks per year, one with each. They also hope to increase the number of older bucks. This is a 5 year tial program. Hope it works. I am totally against taking button bucks. Don't see why anlone would do so.

Georgetownboys

Even though I hunt a small peice of land 300 acres we hope other land owner around us also use some reasonable managment. We allow spikes but then take only 8pt or better and must be out past his ears, no baby baskets. It seems to be working. We are in our 4 season now on this land and things are looking better. You should see the fence around the old cabin, prior owners, lots of tiny racked little bucks. Last year I took a very nice big 4x4 and a nice 4x6. the year before a very nice 5x5. No complaints. I wish more folks would let em grown just a bit more too.

XArmy55

Well Here in MI., if you buy a combination liscence (two tags) you can shoot any size buck or doe, but the second deer must have at least 4 points on one side... I like the restricted tag, but you can still shoot a little one... It should be one doe and one buck over 4 points on one side... Oh well, what can you do...

Wes Tex

In general, I agree with not taking young bucks. I guess the only exception to that is for inferior bucks like spikes. A study done at the Texas Parks & Wildlife / Texas A&M Kerr Wildlife Management Area proved that even though a first year spike may not be a second year spike, he'll always be inferior. That is, at full maturity, the yearling spike buck's antlers were considerably smaller than that of a 4 or 6 point yearling at full maturity.

I guess it also depends on what you are managing for, quality bucks or quanity bucks. When I see a spike chasing doe in the rut, I cringe.

doughboysigep

might want to adjust that statement to "if you own enough land" - I think QDM/antler restrictions is great if you can control the hunters on a large piece of ground (i'll through out 500 ac. for a number). if not, the deer u let walk will get shot by someone else off your land.

White-tail-deer

We have only about 150 Acres of woodland with about 100 more acres of farmland. There are 9 of us who hunt this land, we pass on the smaller stuff. I have passed on buck only to have them walk over the hill and hear a shot ring out 10 minutes later, but if I pass that deer it has a 100% better chance of surviving than if I shoot it. We have been passing on smaller buck for about 5 years now and this year 6 out of 9 of us shot buck. All but 1 was atleast 16" wide with 8 points. The other was a half rack 3 point that a young cousin shot as his first buck. QDM can work on smaller tracts of land as well.

Booney160

I believe in QDM. I hunt on 120 acres, it's a 40 acre plot and about a half mile down the road another 80 acre plot. With this amount of land some may believe it's hard to control the deer heard, which is very true, but you still can help it. Lets say you let a young buck pass, the neighbors shoot it, maybe you didn't save that buck but when that next young buck walks by your neighbors tag should be filled. Also, if you shot small bucks and you knew your neighbors were passing them up, over time wouldn't you think about doing the same? We used to shoot everything, our neighbors started QDM with just 120 acres, now we added our 120 acres, it just keeps adding up. You'll start to see neighbors pass up more and more young bucks when they see the monsters you're taking. QDM is the way of the future, my opinion.