You Know You've Become A Real QDM'er When...

[farmlegend]

1. Upon coming across a dead deer, (whether poached, road-killed, natural causes, wounded by someone, or otherwise), your very first reaction is "thank goodness, it's a doe!"

2. You own at least two chainsaws.

3. All of a sudden, you seem to get approximately six clean kill opportunities on yearling bucks for every one you get on a mature doe.

4. In spite of the fact that neighboring hunters are convinced there aren't enough deer in the area to suit them, you remain confident that there's still too many of the rascals around.

5. In any given 12-month period, you now spend more money on fertilizer than you do on beer.

6. You politely nod when you hear the expression "a nice 6-pointer", but on the inside, you are rolling your eyes. You know there is no such thing! :D

7. You no longer rabbit hunt during the winter because of the conflict with the "hinge-cutting" season.

8. The harvest of a button buck bothers you much less than the taking of a yearling buck. After all, accidents do happen!

9. Your respect for the integrity of your "safe area" rivals that which you hold for the U.S. flag.


I meant to come up with more, but ran out of time. I'm hoping some of you guys can pick up the slack and make some additions. :D

[NATTY BUMPO]

Those are some good ones FL (and I can related real well to most of them) :lol:

1. You spend more on hunting property improvement equipment and supplies than taking your wife out to dinner. :yikes:

2. You'd rather buy a new tractor than a new car.

3. When you go to do a Google Search, it comes back with "QDM Again, Right???"

4. Your favorite pin-ups are the covers of QW.

5. When you log onto M-S.com, this forum comes up.

Keep 'em coming guys

Natty B.

[Bob S]

1) You spend more days in the woods with your chainsaw than with your rifle.

2) When you come across a road kill in your hunting area, you get out your jawbone extractor and remove the jaw for aging.

[wecker20]

Your x-mas list every year consists of seed, fertilizer, and planting equipment.

[Letmgro]

5. In any given 12-month period, you now spend more money on fertilizer than you do on beer.
D

I disagree with this one, do you know how much beer it takes to spread all that fertilizer? ;)

[GrizzlyBear]

You base your arguments on science instead of "how my father and my father's father" did it. :bash:

[farmlegend]

Keep 'em comin'.

10. When an acquantance tells you of a deer he recently harvested, you always ask about the jawbone.

11. You know some of the key differences between "Regal" and "Osceola" Ladinos.

[drev]

12. You look at auction sales for equipment; then find yourself bidding against the Amish:lol:



13. You restore old equipment for reusing, sometimes going to the parts store, and finding that it isn’t listed anymore.:dizzy:



14. You pass up so many deer during the season that people think your lying, in time you learn nothing said is better



15. Watching the “genetics” of your local herd improve, and develop.



16. Your food plot becomes the refuge during season;)



17. It’s the “gift that keeps on giving, all year” (Eddie says; from Xmas vacation):)

[Letmgro]

When the magazine rack in your bathroom has nothing but old issues of Quality Whitetail magazine, for quick reference.

[skulldugary]

Guys,I did not mean my last post to sound the way it did.QDM is a touchy subject,the fact that a dozen or so regular posters out of over 9,000 members isn't a good turn out and when a tread goes sour,it does'nt acomplish anything for anybody.I've learned quite a bit from my stops here.Tho I don't post much here I do check in to see whats going on.

[schopie4]

Why do people who have no respect or support for QDM post in this forum?
I agree. This is a QDM forum. If you don't like QDM then don't come to this forum. Personally, I don't really have the time or money to practice QDM on my land, but I still like to read the posts to pick a few tips that will help me out.

[Whit1]

The forum name has been changed, if you haven't noticed. It is no longer the QDM Forum, but rather the Deer Management Forum. Under either name you must expect comments by members who are opposed to your concept of what is best for our whitetail deer herd. Opinions, and yes, even scientific analysis, might and/or will differ.

No matter what side of an issue you may sit, the owner, administrators, and moderators expect all parties to respect the opinions of others as they are posted in these forums. We do our best to weed out antagonizing posts and parts thereof. Do we miss some? Of course! However, what one member may consider to be an inappropriate comment/post we may be of the opinion that, while it may toe the edge of inacceptability, it does not cross the line.

Again, this is a forum dedicated to discuss deer management, not only QDM or, and maybe more accurately, antler restrictions. After all, antler restrictions are only a way to "kick start" a way to better deer sex ratios.

As you can see, I've just deleted several posts, spiending several minutes doing so and sendning PMs to the first few guys whose posts I've removed. After the first couple of PMs, and with continued reading of the thread, I decided not to PM members whose posts in this thread I deleted because I'd still be working on PMing members. The reason for the deletions rested in the fact that several posts' only purpose was to antagonize. The other posts were in response. Actually the entire thread was, and still is, getting way off topic.

The fault, and I think there is "fault" lies with members from both side of the the mandatory antler restriction issue.

Keep in mind, this is now a forum to discuss deer management, rather than QDM. Also keep in mind, that when it was the QDM Forum that did not mean that those who disagree with mandatory antler restrictions could/should not post. The forums are open to discussion by members on all sides of the topic.

[Erik]

I'm sorry for my earlier comments. I responded out of anger and without considering who I might offend. Maybe some of you don't realize that some of the comments you say also offend. Comments like, "the way my father and his father did", or "theres no such thing as a nice 6 point". None of you know my father. He was a good man who went out of his way to help people. He taught me that hunting is not about hanging trophies on your wall, or about being better than everyone else. I wish I could be half the man he was! And I think some of you would do well to do things the way he did them. I garantee there would not be the un-balanced population of deer that we now have if everyone practiced what my father taught me.
Again I'm sorry for my earlier posts. I will try to not to let it happen again.

[wild bill]

when you get mad at yearling bucks for chasing does away before you can harvest them.

when you and your son are watching the outdoor channel and he asks you why that guy shot that buck with big antlers when it had a little body.

when you come home with a new food plot toy and your wife tells you " i dont even want to know"

[wild bill]

almost forgot

when you clover plot looks better than your lawn.

[Whit1]

almost forgot

when you clover plot looks better than your lawn.

:) ;) :lol: Thanks for the chuckle Bill

Erik,
Thanks for the well stated post. Such a reminder is good for all of us.

[bunji_hunter]

When the "backyard" is used for seed "experimentation".

When you have parts of an old dearborn scattered around because you built a small disc for your 4 wheeler.

Wake up in hunting camp and see animals in your first food plot.

[wecker20]

When the "backyard" is used for seed "experimentation".
You bare spots in your yard are seeded w/ clover cause that's all you had in the garage! That's my yard!

[BSK]

when you clover plot looks better than your lawn.

...and when you try to explain to your wife why you can't mow the lawn today because you have to work on your food plots! ;)

[BuckBass]

almost forgot

when you clover plot looks better than your lawn.

You laugh, but I know a guy who has underground sprinkling in his clover plot. :SHOCKED:

[Andy]

When you pick a brassica leaf and take a bite to see what all the hype is, but then put the rest of the leaf back cuz you know it will be used by the deer.


When you spend 8 days hunting your property and see the same 3 1 1/2 yr. olds 4 out of the 8 days in the heart of your property.

[Burksee]

5. In any given 12-month period, you now spend more money on fertilizer than you do on beer.If thats the case I will NEVER be a very good QDM'r ;) , In fact I've tried to figure it out using several different formulas, its mathematicaly impossible in my book. There cant possibly be that much fertilizer! :lol:

[Ferg]

There cant possibly be that much fertilizer! :lol:

is look around at some of these threads :yikes: - there is copious amounts of fertilizer around !! :lol: :lol: :lol:


ferg....

[Belbriette]

;)

As I have said a few years ago in this Forum, a sustainable deer management of all deer species, is a world wide problem.

- First of all, I must say I cannot see any difference between "QDM" and "Deer Managed for Quality" ...

- Secondly, since I have followed this Forum (about three years), it became more and more surely evident for me two different, antagonistic, approaches were involved :
- - The basis of the first one deals with " How can I manage to hunt for the best of the herd".
- - The basis of the second is " How can I manage to take advantage of the herd for myself ".

- Thirdly, the BASIC difference between these two approaches deals only with a different notion of what a hunter "trophy" is :
- - To hunt pleasurably for the best of the herd means to let enough bucks reach full maturity to garanty a normal, natural breeding competition between males.
- - To hunt for a selfish satisfaction just means "harvesting" a buck, any buck.

It is thus clear to me, antlers are what separate hunters on both sides of this issue, hence, objectively, BOTH sides can be looked at as "trophy hunters", except that on one side it is for the best of the herd, and on the other it for a selfish "trophymania".

This being said, to add to "Farmlegend" ;) initial input :

- When you do your very best to improve your knowledge about deer.
- When you do your very best to familiarize yourself with deer sighting and identification, outside of the hunting season.

I beg you all to forgive the flaws of this post, kindly just remember what it meant to say. ;)

Jack.

[Bob S]

Jack, I think your meaning comes across just fine. I agree with everything you said.

More for the list.

When you see a buck with an odd shaped rack, you don`t blame it on poor genetics.

You don`t harvest a buck with a small or odd shaped rack, because you wanted to remove the poor genes from the herd.

Quality Deer Management is a year round activity. Not just a hunting season activity.

Your harvest records contain biological data from each deer.

You know BSK`s real name and who he works for.

You can spell Spinazzola, without having to look at the cover of your Wildlife Food Plots, Easy as 1,2 3 book.

[Letmgro]

...when you get all excited because you got to spend a few hours in the woods with BSK's boss, and people who don't know who BSK's boss is; look at you funny. :eek:

[wild bill]

this ones for bsk. :lol:

"when you catch your truck on fire trying to put in a food plot with it."

[BSK]

"when you catch your truck on fire trying to put in a food plot with it."

Yup, then I'm a real QDMer!

That is the world's most expensive 1-acre food plot!

[Leon2]

Gotta love FarmLegend for getting this going. Here's a few of my favorites, not that I have any personal experience with any of them :lol: :

88. When there's no room in the mailbox for your wife's Good Housekeeping magazine because you subscribe to too many whitetail mags.

89. When you hire the neighbor kid to mow your lawn and trim the bushes so you have time to plant, fertilize and mow foodplots for deer.

90. When you pick up the photos from the drug store and you lose those great shots of the kids or grandkids because you got too excited about the "shooters" you captured on your Deer Cameras.

91. You have to turn your head to avoid swearing in front of the young kids as the neighbors driving by with another Sparky the Wonder Buck strapped to the top of their van.

92. You see a small herd of antlerless deer grazing in a field and you are obsessed with determining which ones are the button bucks.

93. You see a grouse scamper away from you into your favorite deer sanctuary and you stop on the edge and wave to him, saying, "A rule is a rule."

94. A friend wants to see a piece of land you've worked on and you say, "naw, I don't want to leave any more human scent there until Nov. 15th!"

95. You spend more money on fake scent scrape products than you do on cologne, mouthwash and deodorant.

96. You see a lone, mature doe in a field and you proclaim, "She is the one I want this fall, the Mother matriarch, the one with eight year old teeth."

97. When your eyes light up because someone is telling you about a new grass blend that will even grow in the Sudan plains.

Farmlegend...let's go over a few more over a beer soon. :)

[Whit1]

This may have already been mentioned:

When photos of your food plots are framed and put on the wall right next to those of the family.

[Trophy Specialist]

You politely nod when you hear the expression "a nice 6-pointer", but on the inside, you are rolling your eyes. You know there is no such thing! :D
Go to the Dexter Mill buck pole. They have a six point hanging there that will make your eyes pop out. My nephew shot a six pointer this year, his first buck, that I will be mounting for him. It will probably score over 100.

[farmlegend]

Of course, TS, you are correct, and my comment was a generalization. I would maintain, however, that 98 times out of 100, when we hear the expression "nice six pointer", the speaker is not describing a big 'un.

I saw a six-pointer twice this season which would likewise probably clear 100.

[farmlegend]

Passionate QDM'er Jeff Foxworthy, who traveled to Valley Forge PA on his own dime to spend some time with us rednecks at this weekend's convention, added a few more to the list.

1. When your farm supply elevator is on your speed-dial, you might just be a QDM'er

2. When you pay someone to cut the grass at your home, but spend all day out at your farm mowing your clover, you might just be a QDM'er

3. When your pulse quickens at the sight of Quality Whitetails in your mailbox, you might just be a QDM'er

4. When your deer have new bedding cover, but your wife doesn't, you might just be a QDM'er.

5. If your IQ is 19-19-19, you might just be a QDM'er

6. When you start naming your deer, you might just be a QDM'er

7. When your deer eat better than your family does....


I think JF stole the whole routine; this thread first appeared here in MSF, then got continued QDMA's board, which he visits. I demand a royalty! :D

[Shop Rat]

I will give it a try.

When your kids will not eat salad, but they want to try the "deer food" in the plot.

When your screensaver flashes pictures of your plots.

When your wife does not want the spike, but takes the doe because the steaks are bigger.

When you check the weather up north more than at home.

[Tom Morang]

When you spend more money on gas for the chain saws than your wife uses to go shopping........you just might be a QDMer