A qdm ? and thoughts?

I was lookin threw the post in the qdm thoughts post and was thought i would ask every one something that i ask myself every year where i live and hunt the land is pretty cut up in smaller chunks i would say about 10 to 15 acres wit one here and there going up to 80 maybe a hundred to get to the point is in the past i have past alot of deer only to see them in the land owners neighbors tree come gun seasons and i got places where it just dont matter a big one shows up every year so how much land should you be hunting on before you should try to keep the does down and pass young bucks seems like the gun hunters around here still live by the brown its down and i could not belive the number of button bucks that came in the the sporting goods store during gun season when i was down there shootin my bow for a few hr opening day of gun season not sure when a guy should take the extra time to practice qdm size of the plot of land? what to do about neighbors that dont care ? ect ? thanks guy

I would keep doing it. Hopefully it will pay off for you in the near future. I understand your frustrations.

Bottom line like others have said before if its a trophy in their eyes so be it. If it gets the blood pumping pull the trigger.

I don’t think acreage plays a big part although your question and thought process are natural. I’m not a QDM master or anything but if we accept the fact that not all deer are shot each year in any area of the country, then the simple fact of letting some smaller bucks pass, means their odds of making through the season just went up 100%.
They can certainly end up on the neighbors pole, but again, not all of them will.

I passed on two very nice deer last year, and I’m pretty certain the guys that hunt next to us bagged a buck. Was it one I passed on? I don’t know.

We have not shot a buck on our property in two years, and the trail cam pictures this year are awesome. We’ve never seen this many nice bucks. But, within that group, we still have some that need another year to reach trophy class.

One more year!!

Eric

Here are a few thoughts I have. Acreage isn’t always a factor. We have a measly 80 acres down in Iowa (in yellow). Across the road to the north is a 160 acres of wooded land that nobody hunts. To the south is mixed crop fields. Same with with the fields to the west. To the east is 160 acres of fields and river bottom that gets hunted and farmed, but QDM is practiced.

Our farm is all native prarie grasses and gets very little pressure. That means the deer stick tight to our property. Cover, food, and water all right there. No reason for them to leave. We do very well with a lousy 80 acres. Someday I’d like to buy the 160 to the north and lease up the 160 to the east. Then we’d have deer heaven.