State's QDM of my little world

[TJF]

I am a firm believer that our state does a very good job of managing the deer population. While some think they could be doing a better job so we could be like Iowa and other big buck states... most really don't realize how good we have it. This post is going to be picture heavy so I warn you now. This is a year of us enjoying what the state has to offer in my area.

We'll start off with shed hunting. Tyler absolutely loves it. I like to see what bucks made it through the past hunting season. Great time for scouting new hunting areas as well as getting to know the old hunting areas better. The last few years... we have been finding 200 plus sheds. We didn't take any pictures of our totals the last couple years but this gives you an idea what we normally find...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/2007shedpile004-1.jpg

Next we move on to summer scouting. We run one trail cam for the fun of it but take our summer scouting more serious. The trail cam is just a cheapie and we just have a small camcorder for scouting. The pictures are not great quality but hopefully good enough for you. Someday I hope to have a decent camera for filming !!

Trail cam...

5.5 year old buck... we have 2.5 sets of sheds to him from the last 3 years. I passed on him at 20 yards in October. Probably shouldn't have but hoping for something bigger. He is still alive as far as I know. Going to get the trail cam going once it warms up next week. I won't pass on him again if he is a live. LOL

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/Trailcamaug2009158.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/Trailcamaug2009168.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/11-22-092392.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/11-22-090172.jpg

Freaky Brow... Don't know if he is still alive or not. Really debated with Tyler whether he was a 3.5 or 4.5 year old. Still not sure but leaning to 3.5 years old. No sheds to him. Date is wrong on the first picture of him and Flyers. Should have been a 7 for the month

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/Trailcam7-16-091712.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/Trailcam8-06-09FF3172.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/Trailcam8-06-09FF3102.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/Trailcam8-06-09FF3112.jpg

Flyers... He was shot during the rifle season. Had him at 4.5 years old. No sheds to him.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/Trailcam7-16-091762.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/TrailCam7-31-096602.jpg

Scouting... We saw a lot but these two were the main ones that really interested us other then a 6x5 I couldn't pull decent stills off to show you.

Big 4 PT... 5.5 year old buck we have 2.5 sets of sheds to also. This was the buck Tyler targetted. Closest he got to him with bow was 75 yards. He was shot by someone else right around the beginning of rifle season. He grossed 152.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/Big42009_07_28_23_08_09003_0005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/FreakyBowFlyersandtheBIGFOUR2009-2.jpg

Tall Tines... this buck is only 3.5 years old. No sheds to him either. We watched him most of the summer. I hunted in his area up until rifle season. I saw him 2 days before rifle season opened and haven't been back there since. I hope he made it. He is going to be something at 4.5 years old if he made it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/honeyhole2TallTines2009_07_20_23-4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/honeyhole2TallTines2009_07_20_23-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/honeyhole2TallTines2009_07_20_23_37.jpg

There are many more bucks that we filmed or got on trail cam but this gives you a good idea that we have a fairly decent age structure here of bucks

Our does are not too shabby either and darn good eating !! :D

7 yard shot from the ground...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/doeOct21090042.jpg

15 yard shot from the ground...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/TJJFF/DoeNov30th090052.jpg



Well that sums it up for now. Hopefully Tyler and I can get it done with a late season buck or doe to finish the year and story. Like I said I am happy with the state's QDM.

Tim

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I would say it is working fine. Don't know what state you live in, but they seem to be doing something right. I don't think I've found that many sheds in my life! Of course I don't look for them unless they are in the open or sticking out of a tire or something like that. The rats start worrying them as soon as they hit the ground down here anyway. Good luck on the end of your season.

Alan

[venado]

Awesome Tim and thanks for the great series of pictures. I'd certainly be ecstatic with animals like that in my area and I'm not ecstatic.:mad: That game cam is getting a workout and the age structure is really something to be pleased with. BTW, that buck you can't decide on the age on is a tough one since he appears to have a loose brisket and yet the body looks immature, I'd lean to a 4 yo or older that just was not in great body condition.

[GF.]

Yow! That is one righteous merry boatload o' sheds! And a lot of 'em from deer that are larger than I have ever seen, so yeah, I can see where you might be feeling pretty good about the whole thing...

No reason at all, IMO, why NoDak shouldn't be able to become as much a destination for bucks as SoDak is for roosters; you've got a thin human population, plenty of ag land, genes for big body size... What more do you need?

Only down-side is that you probably don't want to see all of your hunting access dry up because out-o-staters are willing to pay big dollars to hunt. Once the horn-hunters lock up the local bottomland, there won't be enough hunters around to keep the does in check and then you're gonna wish nobody had ever heard of the place ;)

[Laturkeyhtr]

Hey Tim, those are some impressives shes for sure and I like seeing all the bucks from somewhere else.

I would post some, but they are not as good as most of yours.

Sheds? I one or sometimes two in the spring while turkey hunting. But the woods here are so thick it not like the open land that you have and not very conducive to shed hunting.

[Renegade]

What's the matter, couldn't find any BIG buck??:eek:

Holy cannoli batman!! I would hang any of those on my wall.... with pride.
Thanks for sharing. What state is that from?

[pepaw]

Tim,
Thanks for sharing. Great photos and an amazing stack of sheds.

This was my best shed year ever. Unfortunately, it was because of the drought and no ground cover. Our antler growth was poor for this season.

But it is all part of a bigger picture and long term QDM goals.

pepaw

[venado]

Hey Tim, tell me again about that summer weather. Man your deer have to be tough son of a guns to deal with your current weather...! Heck it is going to be in the teens here in south TX over the next few days, I can't imagine how cold it will be there.

[GF.]

That's about the harshest climate in the world, actually. It's almost impossible to get any farther away from an ocean without leaving the planet, so there is essentially zero buffer effect. Compare that to coastal CT, where the ocean keeps us 10 degrees warmer in the winter and nearly as much cooler in the summer vs. just an hour or so inland.

The temps out there can literally swing 150 or more degrees F in the course of a year! Weighing 300 pounds is probably a real good thing today, but in July? I'll bet those big boys go pretty well nocturnal about the beginning of June...

[TJF]

Hey Tim, tell me again about that summer weather. Man your deer have to be tough son of a guns to deal with your current weather...! Heck it is going to be in the teens here in south TX over the next few days, I can't imagine how cold it will be there.

The last half of December was cold bowhunting. We had gotten down to 27 below. I sleeped in that morning !! LOL Wasn't much wind with it so bearable otherwise. I toughed it out to 15-20 below a few mornings. One afternoon my hunted start out at a balmy 2 degrees and dropped to 10 below by the time I got back to the truck that evening. Fun, fun !! I was using heater packs for both gloves and my pack boots. I was chasing a really nice 5x5 with some trash. Should go in the mid 150's. Closest I got was a 100 yards. He was tough to pattern as he would bounce from one doe group to another every day. I would setup on one doe group's area only to have him come out following another doe group. He still was rutting a bit. I did get to see him and another good buck go at it for a bit. They were interested in the doe fawns. Could have shot a 3.5 year old 5x5 the last day but passed. He would have been in the mid 130's. He will be a darn good buck next year !!!

It finally warmed up a bit right after bow season ended and January has been pretty mild for the most part. So far the deer are in pretty good shape with most bucks still carrying. We have only found 4 sheds so far. They've got a good amount of food available and we haven't had a lot of snow until this last blast this weekend. They are indeed tough though with it being so open.

Tim