Deer management northwest

[woodsandwaterguy]

I know this is way out of season butI currently hunt thief river falls for deer. There arent a lot of big bucks in the area due to overharvisting of small immature bucks. There was a law in the air on weather there just be a QDM enforced in the area. This is where no small bucks are to be taken, most often the antlers are to be past the ears to be able to bag it. They do this in many other states including parts of Wisconsin and eastern states. Our hunting party practices this method anyways and it has worked great on our 400 acre plot. The bucks in there are much larger antlered on average compared to the rest of the area. Also many hunters in that region will not take does for some reason. I think there all old school hunters and do not understand that the buck to doe ratio is way out of whack. Theres a reason that the area has been intensive harvest for some years now. We have to start taking more does than bucks to even things out a bit. This will make rattling and bleat calls much more effective. I myself usually shoot 3 does and one large buck to try and even things out a bit. Doe meat on average tastes much better than those big old swamp bucks anyways. I think something should be started up in this region and if its successful it should be brought state wide. What are your thoughts.

[jlm]

Go to the Hunting Forum and scroll back a ways to find the QDM thread. Lots of good information in there!