fishboy1 said:
deerchaser007 said:
The problem is YOU. You come on a QDM forum looking to prove we are managing for trophy's. You ain't got a clue.
For one,.. read my post. I've never mentioned not one word about big antlers. You got that all made up in your head cause thats the way you wanna see. BUT,.. do not judge me my man ,. you don't know me.
BSK,s post said pretty much the same as mine ,.. why is he so right and i'm so wrong?? You looking to start something here?
Whats my goal. Its to provide the best habitat and produce the best results i can acheive in my area through harvest and management of age structure and keep the herd within its carrying capacity.. Thats my goal for my property,.. the neighbors don't have the luxury to touch the habitat cause some lease the land. BUT,.. they all want better deer and better bucks. The past 2 years they have been a 3.5 and a 4.5 year old buck killed by all us. The 4.5 last year was shot opening of mz and was the second oldest deer checked at the checking station that weekend from the TWRA. For myself and my neighbors,.. we were all happy for this accomplishment. Cause we are manageing for better age class,. and we are getting it. That 4.5 year old buck was only around a 120 class buck. SO,. don't throw your trophy crap in our faces. Its not a trophy under most folks view,.. but a 4.5 year old in this county,.. TROPHY!!
And please don't make me compare MS to TN. Come on dude,. you can figure that out. Its not rocket science. The soil is different and MS can have upwards of 60 to 80 deer per square mile on that soil. Just how much overharvest do you expect in that situation. My area has around a 20 to 25 deer per square mile and poor cherty soil. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,.. can you see it??
Anything else i can help you with?? Its obvious you have not got it yet,.. so keep on asking!!
Sorry to have gotten your nickers in a bunch.
What I am trying to do is get people to understand is that there is more than one way to see things, and the QDM bunch is doing a poor job in many instances of making their case to the general public.
I think that QDM is wonderful on private managed properties. I think it will eventually be a disaster on public lands and for the "average" hunter with limited time and access.
What fun is hunting if you dont see and kill deer occasionally? I would not spend the number of days/hours in the woods that I do if I almost never saw any deer and only had the opportunity to kill a deer once every year or three. Unfortunately that is the reality for the "average" hunter who only kills a deer every 2.5years.
If you try and jam QDM down his throat by season limits or by social pressure (telling him to let the little ones pass or slamming them for taking a small buck) then at some point the average hunter will reject the idea of QDM all together. OR worse, they will quit hunting and the hunting community will get smaller and weaker. Neither is a good result.
Heres how you should have worded it for the 3 or 4 time a year hunter. If your gonna say it , say it right.
What fun is hunting if you don't see and kill BUCKS occasionally? I would not spend the number of days/hours in the woods that i do if i almost never saw any BUCK and only had the oppurtunity to kill a BUCK once every 2 to 3 years.Unfortunately, that is reality for the average hunter who only kills a BUCK every 2.5 years.
The average hunter is gonna reject qdm cause he is not worried about DEER harvest,.. he is worried about BUCK harvest. Average hunters are not gonna kill a doe to save their life. Mainly because they still believe the more deer we have,. the more oppurtunity they have. You cannot make them understand that with proper management ,. they can kil more deer and see more deer. I didn't say bucks,. i said deer. BUT,. they are not interested in deer,. just horns. They are just as horn crazy as any trophy hunter. At least a trophy hunter will kill a doe.
In other words,.. they are living in the restoration age and age of traditional management. That ain't gonna cut it any longer. We have to have some kind of management in place to control the population. Not only private,.. but public land also. If you loose a few hunters ,. thats how it goes. The management of the deer population should be first and foremost. If they can't except it,. oh well. We will tell them i told you so when its all said and done.
BUT,. like your stat says,.. they kill a deer every 2.5 years. Why is it its a 1.5 year old buck every 2.5 year?? At that rate,. they should be harvesting a 2.5 year old buck every 2.5 years!!
At some point and time you must tell a hunter who only hunts 3 to 4 times a year that you cannot expect to see deer by the tons every time. The habitat cannot support it in TN. You would be surprised at the number of them that understands that. And they especially understand it when you tell them its called HUNTING,.. not KILLING!! And we shouldn't have to have 100 deer per square mile just so a hunter can go out 1 time and say he hunted a got a deer. Sometimes ,. you actually have to HUNT!!
Thats my opinion,...
By the way ,. sorry for my rudeness earlier. I was cranky yesterday from a poor weekend of HUNTING deer.
