private land. A dog hunting lease at that lol. The only bucks we don't shoot are spikes..which leaves seed for the following year's 4-8pts :chain
How do you figure that?
Um, the spikes mature to 2-2.5 year old bucks as most are just 1-1.5 yr old deer.. For example, last year I gave a spot to a good friend of mine I got into the club. In this spot he killed a nice 8pt and saw 7 different spikes. Well, he didn't join the club back and guess who took over the spot from him? Two of these bucks (first and third 5pt I killed) came from there and I've seen 2 more 4pts and another 5pt and have another two other bucks on camera that look 2-2.5 yrs old.
FWC biologists collect all the jawbones and obtain our data (weight, antler size, etc) from our club to represent the area and most of our bucks killed are estimated at 2-3 yr old bucks.
Keep up the good work. Drop em while the meat's still tender and you don't have to worry about mounting the racks being that they're so small.
Um, the spikes mature to 2-2.5 year old bucks as most are just 1-1.5 yr old deer.. For example, last year I gave a spot to a good friend of mine I got into the club. In this spot he killed a nice 8pt and saw 7 different spikes. Well, he didn't join the club back and guess who took over the spot from him? Two of these bucks (first and third 5pt I killed) came from there and I've seen 2 more 4pts and another 5pt and have another two other bucks on camera that look 2-2.5 yrs old.
FWC biologists collect all the jawbones and obtain our data (weight, antler size, etc) from our club to represent the area and most of our bucks killed are estimated at 2-3 yr old bucks.
Um, I don't understand what you are saying.
"Um, the spikes mature to 2-2.5 year old bucks as most are just 1-1.5 yr old deer.. " -----What? Don't most 1.5 year olds eventually mature to 2.5 year olds, in about a year?
So why would you want to kill a 2-3 year old deer that hasn't reached maturity? Maybe I am just not understanding what you are saying, but sounds kinda convoluted, seems kinda counter productive to keep shooting immature bucks.
What? Don't most 1.5 year olds eventually mature to 2.5 year olds, in about a year?- YES They normally grow antlers larger than spikes too in the 2-2.5 yr range. Hence, the large amount of 4-8pt bucks on the property.
So why would you want to kill a 2-3 year old deer that hasn't reached maturity? A county of primarily meat hunters and dog hunters we don't give a flip about antler size. We also only shoot 100 does per year so it keeps our population somewhat stable yr to yr while killing all bucks except spikes. I would rather not kill any does but that's another topic.
If you kill so many does, why dont you let the young bucks walk and grow to something over 70", its not like you are mounting them or anything? I still don't understand the kill everything but spikes deal. That is the first time I ever heard anybody say kill everything but the spikes. To each his own, but from what I know of QDM you may have your ideologies a little convoluted.
We are very, very anti-QDM. Our way is build by dog hunters for dog hunting and we can still kill alot of bucks yr after yr without decimating the deer densities as QDM would. Most don't understand it as they have been spoonfed QDM this and QDM that, like it's the only guidelines of deer management. QDM is setup for still hunting, not dog hunting. The Fl coastline won't ever grow many 130+ class bucks and all I have to do is drive is drive 60 miles hours north for a realistic chance at one.
QDM is a great way to kill off everything as was done in the "trophy" and QDM management clubs in the area. Our leases are dog hunting clubs first that allow still hunting, one of the first sentences in the rule book.
Not much deer management going on there, have no clue why it would matter dog hunting or not. a deer it not starting to mature till 3 1/2 and then only defects and culls, we wait till 4 1/2-5 1/2 to harvest. You are right not many high scoring deer in FL
