2023 deer season regrets…

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I have herds of bucks like these - and this is late in the year - they have made it through hunting season. A reasonable expectation would be that there would be quite a few bucks next year that were just almost shooters - needing just one more year from next fall. But no, there might be one new quality buck show up, and the bulk of the herd will look just like this again. But also consider I live in an area where the average 5 yr old buck scores right at 110”. We killed a five year old buck, bottom pic, that wouldnt score 100”. Antlers here, in general - dont lend a lot towards aging a buck. A big set of antlers is a mature deer. A small set of antlers could be anything.

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I have herds of bucks like these - and this is late in the year - they have made it through hunting season. A reasonable expectation would be that there would be quite a few bucks next year that were just almost shooters - needing just one more year from next fall. But no, there might be one new quality buck show up, and the bulk of the herd will look just like this again. But also consider I live in an area where the average 5 yr old buck scores right at 110”. We killed a five year old buck, bottom pic, that wouldnt score 100”. Antlers here, in general - dont lend a lot towards aging a buck. A big set of antlers is a mature deer. A small set of antlers could be anything.

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I have the same experience.
 
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