nyantler

Best shoot I ever did was a novelty shoot.. 30 targets, all trad bows, every target was 50 yards to 100 yards. Needless to say I brought lots of arrows. I don't remember ever having as much fun shooting as I did that day. After the shoot they had other novelty competitions as well. 100 yard shoot on an elk target with a 1" orange dot placed in the kill zone. Buck a shot, one arrow, closest to the dot wins. A 5 yard floating ping pong ball... had to pierce the ball with the arrow... just knocking off the ball from the air flow didn't count. Then a 1/2 steel deer target at 10 yards with a 6" hole in the target... had to put the arrow through the hole.. missing meant a busted arrow... put some stress on things..LOL We also did flu-flus at 10" foam discs with 4" removable centers just like shooting trap... what a fun day!

Not true in my experience... I've killed mature bucks on every property I've ever hunted. Even places where other hunters said they hadn't seen any bucks. You have to know where to look for them or have some snow to pick up a track. Grampy is right on point about how to consistently kill or at least be on and see mature bucks. You have to adapt to whatever the territory has to offer... IF, in fact, your goal is to kill mature bucks then you must lose the small buck mentality. I've killed plenty of mature bucks on public land, usually in farther than most hunters want to go. Skills are everything when talking about killer big bucks consistently. Anyone can kill one by accident... even on public land. It happens all the time, the record books are loaded with accidental encounters on public property bucks. The reason many hunters feel the way you do is because they lack the abilities and skills needed to consistently encounter a buck at all, let alone a mature bucks. Hence the reason many hunters are managing their properties for bigger bucks. The only way they'll ever see one is to make sure they grow enough of them to increase the odds.

LOL.. I wonder sometimes who you guys hunt with and who you know... almost everyone I know that hunts has an old time hunting type camp... no jealousy, no antler envy... sometimes a little friendly competition for that year's bragging rights, but mostly guys enjoying having a group of guys that share the same passion as they do... this forum and most trade shows I do are the only places in my "hunting world" that I see "antler envy" or the "look at me" attitude. I agree that things may be changing, but the old-time guys and hunting camps are still alive and well.

That's good shooting...

LOL... You must not know many trad shooters... most of the guys I shoot 3D with are unbelievable.. many score in the high 250's up to 25 yards... and kill just as many deer if not more than most bowhunters I know. We can shoot out past 20 yards acurrately, but because of the bow speeds the trajectory of the arrows at greater distances leave too much room for error... and a man has to know his limitations. If you take your sights off your compound I'll shoot with you at 20 yards all day... not to say that there aren't some trad shooters that suck, but the same can be said about some compound shooters.

I'd be tickled to have an invited guest take the buck of their lifetime on my property. I'm sure your friend will remember it forever... pretty cool thing to be able to share with a friend.

I think I might have posted this before. You can shoot 99 out of 100 arrows in the kill zone when practicing, but if the first arrow is always the miss arrow you shouldn't be shooting at an animal at that distance. The first one is the one that counts... and usually the only one you get!

I think effective distance is relative to the person... I personally think 30 and 40 yards is absurd, but that's just for me. I'm a 20 yard and in guy. Today's technology in compound bows is remarkable and I don't doubt that 60, 80 or even 100 yards can be achieved on a regular basis with lots of practice given faster bows, improved sights, arrow rests, broadheads etc. Us trad guys tend to stay a little more up close and personal.

Good start to the season... congrats!

For those tha might have missed it.. here are a few pics

always iron sights or peep.. don't even own a scope.

A shot is only long if you aren't proficient at that distance... if the guy practices religiously at 85-100 yards and feels comfortable.. have at it. One mans limitations are not necessarily another's...

very true.. except maybe for bow hunting you might want enough land so that you don't have to continually ask permission from adjoining landowners to retrieve your deer. Especially if you don't have a good rapport with said landowners like many hunters don't.

What?... I didn't hear the question.

I have been literally feet from all kinds of deer on the ground without being detected over the years and never with anything covering my face. Some years maybe some facial hair, but I've never found the need for a face cover myself. My Italian olive oil and garlic colored skin seems to blend in well with the natural surroundings... LOL. However, I don't see how covering ones face can hurt at all. Whatever makes you feel more invisible and gives you some confidence can't be a bad thing.

I don't see a problem with locking up land as long as there are enough hunters hunting the property to be beneficial to the habitat as far as deer take and sound management... and although it is ones right to own 1000 acres and keep it only to oneself... it does an injustice to real deer management. In the same respect it would be an injustice to have too many hunters on a smaller habitat. It would be nice to somehow find a balance somewhere in between. I'm sure self proclaimed QDMers can fall into any one of those categories. Someone, or a group, not taking into account all aspects of a good Quality Deer Management program is not really a QDMer at all.

ahhh.. now it makes better sense.

I believe every hunting law could or would be considered useless by one hunter or another depending on how it affects ones hunting success. The spotlighting poacher thinks the " no night hunting for whitetails" is useless. LOL

and you hunt here why? LOL

First of all the number of deer seen by any hunter is anecdotal at best in that there are many factors as to why hunters see or don't see deer. Hunting style, stand placement, disruptions by surrounding properties and hunters or just plain terrible hunting practices,. As for your scenario it wouldn't wash under a true QDM managed property because the program is designed to adjust doe harvest based on need in the habitat and wouldn't (or shouldn't ) be still harvesting does in the 5th or 6th year unless there was a reason to do so. Just because someone claims they are practicing QDM doesn't mean they understand the actual program or are actually following its actual plan. There are many out there that think they are "QDMers" but really only know a fraction of the entire objective and how to go about doing it correctly. You can attack what this guy did but calling it QDM is a stretch... by him or by you. You're problem should be with this guy not QDM or the QDMA. There may be problems with the QDM program but this isn't one of them. If you look at what the QDMA advises in it's plan you will see that they promote exactly what you stated in your last sentence and even give you tips on how to do it. Like I said earlier, some hunters need to go read what the original QDM plan entails... it will enlighten some... even some self professed QDMers

If you aren't killing enough does then the plan is not a sound management plan... Because doe harvest is a critical aspect of QDM, if that isn't being done properly then you're really not practicing that management plan. I would also think that most won't have much time the rest of the year to do what is necessary to manage a property with effectiveness if they only have the time to hunt 3 days a year.

Yeah it looks like the DEC is taking small bites right now in hopes that much of their plan will go unnoticed until it finally encompasses the whole state.

The crops near us did pretty well, but much of it is grown on high and dry land. Our leased property corn has always been chopped during the first few weeks of the bow season... I think it looks like the same will happen this year.

Letting open land grow to wood lands is NOT good deer habitat management all by itself... there are many many factors involved in managing a wildlife habitat so that everything and everyone benefits. Once you have a woodland you have to manage that woodland properly to make it beneficial to whitetail, and make it suitable to hunt in or around..

Just to be clear.. I dont think QDM is ruining hunting... in fact, it may even have created a new passion for some hunters that may have been lacking. My point was just about how there has a been a misconception, in my opinion, of what it's objective really is.