Here is a thought

[Buford_Dawg]

Why be surprised ???

Alot of people are whining about not seeing any deer and in some ways I feel sorry for them because they have not matured to the point they can just enjoy the outdoors without seeing a hundred deer and killing several. I would be willing to bet that most of the people whining about not seeing deer are the same ones that laid waste to the does when the state first allowed it, before ever considering the long term affects.

You are obviously in a different situation than most of us given the LARGE mass of land you have to hunt and manage. I bet less than 5% of folks on this forum have the hunting situation you have.

Also, there is no need to feel sorry for those of us who are saying that deer numbers are down and continue to decline in our given hunting regions, we still enjoy being in the outdoors enjoying other acitivities such as camping and viewing other wildlife while sitting in our deerstands. BTW, most of us are MATURE hunters who have spent many years in the woods and can attest to the lesser deer sightings around us.

 

[CPiper]

SouthPawDraw: QDM is a personal thing, either you do or you dont .... never shoot a deer in "self defense", by that I mean with the attitude "If I dont shoot him he will cross into the WAM land and someone else will shoot him". If that mentality is in a hunter's head, forget QDM and what is best for the deer and the habitat and blast away!!
Some deer will be shoot, some wont and will live another season or two.
QDM ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS works when practiced!! QDM is NOT just about the deer on your land; it is about improving the overall health of the habitat for all forms of wildlife, mainly deer.

I have access to 270 acres and we practice HARD core QDM. On any given year we will take 20+ does and 0 bucks off this land. We plant and plant and lime and lime and fertilize and timber and have all sorts of stuff we do to keep pressure to a minimum. We are surrounded by hunters that shoot at any deer on 3 sides and by a poaching trespasser on the other - yet - we see lots of deer including bucks, kill deer regularly and bucks in the 100-130" class are the norm/avg. The biggest buck off this prop netted 152" .... so, it can be done - just takes the right attitude and well thought out and executed goals.

 

[coon dawg]

............

Surprisingly enough you don't have to have large acreages to make a difference in deer quality. You do have to work much harder at it though and have realistic expectations. With a little money and mostly a lot of hard sweaty work you can turn a 50 acre property into a honey hole where you can expect to take a few does a year and maybe a nice mountable buck every 3 years or so. You have to begin by taking a serious look at the land and what it's potential is for habitat, and what is going on around you. It's not something that will change overnight. The biggest challenge on working with small acreages is finding the right solution for 'that property' and the lack of information available on working with small acreages. Biggest failure: thinking it can't be done and not even trying.

 

[Thunder Head]

lmbhanger, I am with you the coolest thing that happened to me over the weekend was a skunk almost walking over the tip of my boot. Got within 2 feet before he vereed of to munch on a nice fat bug.
I live to be outdoors whether it is hunting, fishing, rockclimbing, hiking or what ever else.
As far as the corn thing goes. I just cannot believe when ask the survey question (I think it was 90% of non hunters think baiting is cheating and should not be allowed) People still say they think baiting should be allowed!!!!!!!!! are the 40 something % of people that are for baiting crazy. Why would you risk loosing deer hunting. Deer #s will not matter if the public makes it illeagel.

 

[RJY66]

Alot of people are whining about not seeing any deer and in some ways I feel sorry for them because they have not matured to the point they can just enjoy the outdoors without seeing a hundred deer and killing several.

Please don't take this as me being ugly to you, but I would be willing to bet that if you spent the whole season and saw 2 or 3 or ZERO, you would change your tune and began to voice opinions very similar to the ones you call "absurd". I have experienced this and I still love hunting.

 

[CPiper]

Oh, are for you that think the deer are not there, let me come turn a pack of dogs loose and we'll show you the deer that "aint there"!!

 

[lmbhanger]

Yes I would be concerned but I would be concerned that something I or my co-op neighbors did affected my deer sightings. Not that they up and vanished in a year. On the place I hunt this year the amount of forage is ridiculous, from food plots to acorns, muscadines to browse, it just overwhelming the amount of food. This combined with dry and hot weather will damper diurnal(daytime) deer movement to some degree. I know if I am not seeing deer it is usually because I am hunting areas they are not active. It is not because they are not there.

I know everyone keeps saying that I have this large acreage to hunt and I do, however I have made it a policy to keep areas off limits almost 2000 acres of our property is a sanctuary. Where no human has been in 4 years.

And yes, this can work on small acreage, here in TN I only have 70 acres I hunt and 40 acres of that are off limits to people period. Last year we took two P&Y bucks and 16 does, and this in a county in TN where we me and the guys I hunt with have killed every P&Y deer in the record book. So those with small tracts there is hope, if we can be successful in East TN, where a spike does not stand a chance then it surely can be done in GA.

It all goes back to simple land management, not just food plots and letting young bucks walk but land Management. I would suggest to those whose leases are not offering the number of deer the members would like, to sit down and discuss options for changing existing practices.

The books are out there, amazon.com has all of them for a reasonable price.

 

[CPiper]

I know everyone keeps saying that I have this large acreage to hunt and I do, however I have made it a policy to keep areas off limits almost 2000 acres of our property is a sanctuary. Where no human has been in 4 years.
It all goes back to simple land management, not just food plots and letting young bucks walk but land Management.

Exactly what our experience is - we have places on this 270 acres that we never go, ever!!
And its not just the food plots and mineral stations - it is HOW we hunt .... we dont walk or drive all over the place, it is quick in and quick out, no loud talking, we allow the land to sit idle during the season .... all sorts of stuff that go into making it a place deer want to go because of little to no pressure.
Which stand to use is a well thought out process for many reasons vs just hap-hazardly picking a stand because it has produced in the past.
Which tree to cut or not cut is decided by professionals with the priority being making the land suitable and desireable to wildlife.

 

[SADDADDY]

Alot of people are whining about not seeing any deer and in some ways I feel sorry for them because they have not matured to the point they can just enjoy the outdoors without seeing a hundred deer and killing several. I would be willing to bet that most of the people whining about not seeing deer are the same ones that laid waste to the does when the state first allowed it, before ever considering the long term affects.

ABSURD!

 

[lmbhanger]

SaD, I don't know what to think of that? I guess all the people complaining about not seeing deer are just happy and fine with the way things are. But you know as well as I do there are many that don't think a hunt is a sucess unless a body is loaded in the truck at the end of a weekend.

Piper, I agree we do the exact same thing on our place. If everyone was logical about their hunting strategies I wonder if deer sighting s would start to go back up. There is more involved in a good deer herd then just food plots like I stated before.