QDM in OK

[30BulletHoles]

I'm all about practicing QDM to an extent but do not agree with the state forcing antler restrictions/earn a buck upon us. It is hard enough for most hunters to find time to hunt and a place to hunt to begin with, don't really need the state forcing antler restrictions or earn a buck restrictions upon them. I'm fine with the reduction from 3 to 2 bucks/year. The online only check system has been the dumbest thing the wildlife dept has done in I don't know.....history.

 

[dennishoddy]

I agree with this idea to a point, but trail cameras have been pretty common since the mid to late 90's. Why has the buck quality really seemed to ramp up just over the last couple or three years? There has to be more to the equation.....

I agree with the Camera's being part of the reason.
.
I also think that the education that folks are getting from the ODW as well as information about QDM one gets from the internet and sites like OSA is the major contributing factor.
Right about the time Oklahoma went from three to two bucks, the internet became popular. Social media was spawned.
Back in my day, you shot the first buck you saw. People shot fork horns and had them mounted.
Now the population is such that you can pick and choose in some cases.
People get into deer hunting, go to social media, and learn more in one evening of reading than I ever knew in my life because of the collective knowledge they gained by reading from experienced hunters. They see the great bucks we are shooting and want to have one just like it on their wall. They don't want a fork horned buck.
Now social media is the mentor of most. Grandpa's old theory's about why you don't shoot does has been debunked. Game Biologists have studied the results of intense management practices like are done on DMAP's. They understand how nutrition and minerals can be supplemented to produce bigger bucks.
Landowners/hunters use that information to put in food plots that help bucks grow bigger antlers and live a healthy life. Proper nutrition ='s bigger racks and healthier deer that live longer.
During the drought periods the landowners around our neck of the woods put out supplemental watering stations because there was no water to be found for many miles. It was for deer, not cows.

Its education and research IMHO that has contributed to our bigger bucks. Hunters take that knowledge to the field with them.

 

[SnowCamo]

My dad and I keep feeders out year round, plant food plots, and shoot mature bucks. Occasionally we'll take a cull buck. The neighbors take several doe and I cringe every time I let good bucks walk because I assume they'll shoot them. But it's getting where I'm able to get pictures and find sheds from the same buck year after year.

A few years back I was able to watch and find sets of sheds from the same buck for 3 years. He was old when I started watching him and was able to take him when he started going down hill. Hopefully QDM is being practiced by more than I think.

 

[Deer Slayer]

I took my first deer in 1974 on some family land in SE Okla and it was a spike. I was thrilled. By 1985 I was blessed to meet Jack Payne who owned Shagbark Farm near Marble City, just north of Sallisaw. He was planting food plots for his deer. He mentored me in planting for whitetails. In 1982 I had acquired a farm near Antlers and wanted to do something to attract the deer so I could enjoy seeing more deer. I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't know how to go about accomplishing that goal. Jack Payne was the first to step forward and start me down the road to where I am now. Farming for wildlife was unheard of at the time. 1987 was the year that i brought my plan to action, 1 year before Ray Scott started the Whitetail Institute of North America. I was a field tester for them at one time and learned alot. OSA was not around to guide me in formulating a successful food plot program and steepening the learning curve. I now rub shoulders with Dr. James Kroll and have continued to expand my knowledge of managing for wildlife. I have met some very fine people along the way that have the same passion for deer as I do. Dennis Hoddy, and Oklabassin are 2 people that I have met from this board who have become close friends that share the passion too. I have always been a person who shares and so when I was asked, many years ago, to start Food Plot Basics on this forum I did and look what it has evolved into when people share. I am still trialing products that are not on the market today that show promise. Time to step off my soap box, I got carried away again. I am echoing what Dennis and SnowCamo said.

SnowCamo maybe we need to share a cup of java.

 

[DEER 24/7]

Deer Slayer I Remember Shagbark Ranch didn't he run a hunting operation that was very affordable my brother lived in marble city for 4 years and work on a cattle ranch use to go there turkey hunting and learn right quick that eastern turkeys are a lot harder to hunt then rio. I had my first encounter with a rattle snake while hunting also

 

[Deer Slayer]

YES, 24/7 that was Jack's operation. I visited him just before he died of cancer many years ago. I owe him alot. He was a true friend. Did you catch any of the big channel cat that he fed in the various ponds?

 

[DEER 24/7]

YES, 24/7 that was Jack's operation. I visited him just before he died of cancer many years ago. I owe him alot. He was a true friend. Did you catch any of the big channel cat that he fed in the various ponds?

No I did not now I remember I knew there was something else that he did and didn't he have nice little cabins you could stay in also. He was doing this many years ago when nobody else in Oklahoma was doing anything like that

 

[Deer Slayer]

Yes, jack had cabins that you could stay in too. He was a smart man and ahead of his time.