The problem with this idea is that in most cases the folks around you end up sitting on your property lines and reaping the rewards of your hard work. Been done for ages and will keep on happening. Just ask the guys with stands every quarter mile of our 7000 acres.

Has 49er said that you can't do all of the management that you want? If that's the way you want to hunt, by all means hunt that way.

So does that mean that in 7,000 acres you can't find somewhere that the fence sitters can't watch from their stands? Or, that you just want the State to dictate that the neighbors have to do what you want them to do even if they don't have the time or money or the amount of property that you have?

I hunt on 250 acres and spend a considerable amount of time "managing" the property (keeping road passable, keeping the jungle beat back, bushhogging, planting, spreading lime, fertilizer, scouting, locating possible stand sites, putting out trail cameras, etc) most of the work is done with plain old hardwork with hand tools or tillers (except for the bushhogging, I have to rent the equipment). So when I locate a buck that I want to hunt, that is what I hunt, but if one of the other adjacent landowners kills the deer, then that the way it goes. On the other hand if a deer wanders off their property onto my property and I kill that deer, then that's the way it goes too.

So it seems to boil down to if you have 7,000 acres and you are worried that your neighbors are going to shoot all of your deer, you may need to rethink your priorities. If you can't get over your neighbors killing deer then you can alway high fence your 7,000 acres just to make sure they don't kill any of your deer and you don't kill any of theirs.

that's not what he was saying at all, read truedoubles post and you have your answer

That's exactly how the research used to support qdm is done... in enclosures. That's the only way to control experiments... i.e. control the variables. If you want to get your qdm right, then do it like the researchers do it, get you a fence and quit worrying about what your neighbor is doing.

td,



That comes from your qdm typical response that what I'm saying is ignorance.



Those are your words, not mine.

If you read my comments and tried to comprehend them you would know that I've tried the qdm route and made an educated decision to go back to hunting instead. I was there when qdm first started. My first contact with qdm advocates was at the University of Alabama at a wildlife seminar in the early nineties. QDMA drafted me as a member because I used to attend their seminars.

When the QDMA first indicated in public at a meeting I attended that they were going to push for mandatory government restrictions on deer hunting, I left and haven't been back since. I was offended that they used their total membership, including mine, to support their proposed restrictions when I opposed them. I continued to receive the literature that they send to their members for several months after I told them I was no longer a part of their group.

As for my knowledge of the laws and regulations, I grew up with most of them too. After fifty years of trying to avoid a hunting or fishing violation, you learn a few things if you are paying attention. These days, I find it necessary to keep up with what is going on at the DCNR because that is where the most serious threats to my hunting rights have come from in recent years. I'm watching closely what happens there now.

But its my corn-hunting, night hunting, smoking in the stand, dog hunting, anti-qdm, if its brown its down, neighbor hunting on his side of the line (unbelievable) and killing more than 3 bucks a year not a season, that is keeping me from choosing which 140" deer I want to harvest on any given hunt. Besides its cheaper for me to pistol whip them into seeing things my way, with more rules and regulations.

To answer that.......that's exactly where I hunt.

49er, I rounded numbers....if you want the real numbers I'll be more than happy to send you the link. What the heck:

Bucks (3" or more)- 79,851
Does 72,201
Button 8296
antlerless (>3") 2441

Total 162,789

WMA harvest

Bucks 2696
Does 2438
Button 455
Antlerless 77

Total 5666

Total Harvest

Bucks 82,547
Does 74,639
Button 8,751
Antlerless 2518

Total 168,455

20% of TN bucks are 3.5 years old or older. The TWRA physically checked and aged 3469 bucks last year at check stations all over the state. Rotated around every year to keep the data honest. 20% of those bucks were 3.5 years or older.

So, the results of the TN restrictions are typical. An overwhelming majority (80%) of bucks killed are still equal to or less than 2.5 years of age.


Obvious facts:

Many hunters go hunting to kill deer. Many enjoy killing bucks more than they do killing does. Mature bucks are harder to kill. Many hunters are happy to kill a 2.5 year old buck.

Deer herds have flourished in most southeastern states with a majority of the bucks killed being equal to or less than 2.5 years old. So, what's the harm to the resource if deer are flourishing and hunters are having fun?

If most hunters wanted to restrict themselves to killing older bucks, the option is there if they are willing to do the work and pay the price, and the data should reveal that preference. Obviously, most had rather settle for killing younger deer. The state should look at the data and respect the preferences of the overwhelming majority of it's hunters if there is no obvious harm to the perpetuation of the resource. I doubt if killing 2.5 year old bucks or less is decimating TN's deer herd since the antlerless limits are as liberal as they are.

I will say it again, all the states have buck limits, ours now is more in line with other southern states.

Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and now Alabama has similar buck limits.

Why were we so special by having a buck a day?

It wasn't cause of sound whitetail management.