Age this deer

[T-Max]

I’d say 4.5. A guy sent me a pic of a buck the other day. Most likely a 6 year old by his history and that chest is DEEP. This buck is getting some thickness, but not quite there to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hoytvectrix]

This post got me thinking about a new buck we had show up. I'm curious what folks think:



Another shot of him:

 

[omicron1792]

Short neck on that one. I’d say 4-5.

I’ll throw one in.

 

[gjs4]

I always feel like the "age this" threads are a trap....not like a mouse trap, but like tar or caulk where it just gets messy. LOL

If you have nothing better to use your tags on; shoot him. Some of the pics have me thinking he looks three. Not likely to be anyone special, but I try not to fail playing God with culling unless there is a need for meat and no better uses for my tag. This said.....I dont kill enough bucks, only big older ones on occasion as I raise the pool of the likely "toasted too early" for my neighbors. But that's just me....

 

[Brian662]

This post got me thinking about a new buck we had show up. I'm curious what folks think:

View attachment 66762

Another shot of him:
View attachment 66763

Tough angle, first Pic I'd guess 3.5 and second Pic 4.5. Makes it hard to tell.

 

[SwampCat]

Southern deer, summer time deer - always look younger and skinnier to me. I know it is difficult for folks living in areas, where their bucks commonly weigh 200 lbs, to age our southern deer where a 5 yr old buck weighs 185

 

[Mortenson]

Whatcha guys think on this one?? I'm struggling.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Whatcha guys think on this one?? I'm struggling.

View attachment 66865View attachment 66866

3.5. Front end and chest are starting to develop but there is no sagging belly yet. Also, his legs look a little long still.

(I have almost zero confidence with summer deer, though)

 

[Hoytvectrix]

View attachment 66790

Southern deer, summer time deer - always look younger and skinnier to me. I know it is difficult for folks living in areas, where their bucks commonly weigh 200 lbs, to age our southern deer where a 5 yr old buck weighs 185

2.5 year old. I think the southern deer all look younger until November, and then they start to separate themselves.

 

[SwampCat]

2.5 year old. I think the southern deer all look younger until November, and then they start to separate themselves.

I agree with you

 

[omicron1792]

One of the 8 points I let walk last year showed back up as a 10 this year.

 

[Mortenson]

3.5. Front end and chest are starting to develop but there is no sagging belly yet. Also, his legs look a little long still.

(I have almost zero confidence with summer deer, though)

I was hoping someone would say no older than 3.5. He looks really light and young to me. His right antler squeezes in 8 points and a standard 5 on the left. Been living in that area of the farm all summer, but no recognition of who he was last yr. We had a bevy of 2.5 sixes and sevens last fall, so I'm thinking he's just 1 of them.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

Did you look at velvet photos from last year?
We have a couple of bucks that are around all summer and then disappear around the first or second week of September, coincidentally right when we start getting other bucks showing up for the first time. Maybe your farm is just more in the center of his summer range? I think the average is something like 600 or 700 yd shift between seasons.

 

[Mortenson]

Did you look at velvet photos from last year?
We have a couple of bucks that are around all summer and then disappear around the first or second week of September, coincidentally right when we start getting other bucks showing up for the first time. Maybe your farm is just more in the center of his summer range? I think the average is something like 600 or 700 yd shift between seasons.

That's a good point. We don't typically get many pics of summer bucks probably mainly due to only growing corn and not beans on our farm. This year our immediate neighbors to the N and S both have beans, plus our corn hybrid is getting hit hard by the deer so it must taste good to them. Thinking a few more bucks than normal are summering closeby. Nothing about this deer shouts older than 3.5 to me. Would be nice to keep him protected, but the couple times in the past I've tried mentioning something like that to neighbors it never goes over very well.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

That's a good point. We don't typically get many pics of summer bucks probably mainly due to only growing corn and not beans on our farm. This year our immediate neighbors to the N and S both have beans, plus our corn hybrid is getting hit hard by the deer so it must taste good to them. Thinking a few more bucks than normal are summering closeby. Nothing about this deer shouts older than 3.5 to me. Would be nice to keep him protected, but the couple times in the past I've tried mentioning something like that to neighbors it never goes over very well.

View attachment 66905

Neighbors can be a bitch. I feel like it is slowly getting better for people who are at all interested in killing bigger bucks. People are coming around to the importance of trigger discipline. It doesn't work at all if people can't communicate. They assume they better shoot it because the neighbors certainly will.

It is pretty dang tough to see a rack like the one in your photo and disregard it. I think unless we have a history with a deer it is about impossible to be accurate for aging a deer. Another member on this forum has all of their bucks aged and I was blown away by how much older they were than I had thought. I'm going to start aging each of our bucks just to hopefully learn something from it.

Here is the buck from my photos above, but from a different angle. I am pretty confident he wasn't around last year but that was just our first year of owning the farm and we may have missed him in his summer range. He definitely wasn't around during the season though.

 

[omicron1792]

That's a good point. We don't typically get many pics of summer bucks probably mainly due to only growing corn and not beans on our farm. This year our immediate neighbors to the N and S both have beans, plus our corn hybrid is getting hit hard by the deer so it must taste good to them. Thinking a few more bucks than normal are summering closeby. Nothing about this deer shouts older than 3.5 to me. Would be nice to keep him protected, but the couple times in the past I've tried mentioning something like that to neighbors it never goes over very well.

View attachment 66905

Is that ag corn or food plots? How do you manage the corn for hunting?

 

[Mortenson]

Is that ag corn or food plots? How do you manage the corn for hunting?

That's just field corn, on light colored timber soil. 170# of N. We don't grow any food plot corn, but if my dad's having a good day while we're there combining, he might leave a few rows here and there. Would be fun to leave a few acres sometime.

 

[omicron1792]

That's just field corn, on light colored timber soil. 170# of N. We don't grow any food plot corn, but if my dad's having a good day while we're there combining, he might leave a few rows here and there. Would be fun to leave a few acres sometime.

That’s what I was wondering. Can you leave and acre or two, and drive over and knock down the stalks in the middle. Would be deer city

 

[T-Max]

He just doesn't look like an old buck to me. Thoughts? He does have a little thickness to his chest, but he looks sleek and slender to me. Long nose. No ass at all.

 

[Brian662]

Muscle definition in front shoulders. My guess is 3.5, dandy buck.