BOC
5 year old buck +
Guys, I am curious if any of you have confirmed 3.5-4.5 and older jawbones that you can post a picture of. I recently had all my jawbones aged by an expert and was surprised to see most of what I thought were 4.5 year old deer were actually jaw boned aged at 3.5. I was just hoping a few of you might be able to chime in and offer some examples. I know location and type of soil play a factor but figure it can't hurt to compare anyhow.
As a side note, let me give you a little background about what really surprised me with these aging results. I am in Indiana and have hunted this ground with my father for the past 20 years. Without question, we are harvesting the top 10 percent of bucks we have on camera each year. Most of the time, we end up shooting the most mature deer we capture a picture of - not saying we are the best hunters ever, our ground is just that appealing. Our past harvests range from 180-220lbs field dressed and gross (total inches of antler) anywhere from 130-155. Pretty typical I would guess for a mature Indiana deer. If what our aging expert says is true, that the majority of our deer are only 3.5, than finding a 4.5 year old deer in my area would be an exceptional accomplishment. I am in ag country with very little cover - I am confident that if there is anything else out there to get a picture of it would eventually pass through my hunting grounds and have its picture taken. Point being, can there be a real possibility that 3.5 year old deer with the very occasional 4.5 year old is the oldest we can expect?
The stats were 17 total bucks harvested - 1 4.5 year old, 13 3.5 year old, and 3 2.5 year old
I am very curious to hear everyone's opinions. Thanks for discussing!
As a side note, let me give you a little background about what really surprised me with these aging results. I am in Indiana and have hunted this ground with my father for the past 20 years. Without question, we are harvesting the top 10 percent of bucks we have on camera each year. Most of the time, we end up shooting the most mature deer we capture a picture of - not saying we are the best hunters ever, our ground is just that appealing. Our past harvests range from 180-220lbs field dressed and gross (total inches of antler) anywhere from 130-155. Pretty typical I would guess for a mature Indiana deer. If what our aging expert says is true, that the majority of our deer are only 3.5, than finding a 4.5 year old deer in my area would be an exceptional accomplishment. I am in ag country with very little cover - I am confident that if there is anything else out there to get a picture of it would eventually pass through my hunting grounds and have its picture taken. Point being, can there be a real possibility that 3.5 year old deer with the very occasional 4.5 year old is the oldest we can expect?
The stats were 17 total bucks harvested - 1 4.5 year old, 13 3.5 year old, and 3 2.5 year old
I am very curious to hear everyone's opinions. Thanks for discussing!
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