Would You Shoot This Deer?

[SwampCat]

Yes! Well no. I don't know. I guess my curiosity is bigger than my desire to shoot an "embarrassed" buck. I can kinda' relate to that. My rational (?) curious thought would be to let him ride into another year to see what he becomes. That's being hopeful, maybe a little too hopeful, that he survives for another year. He's not doing anything any harm. I'm assuming the rack is what it is because of an injury.

But, given all the pressures around here to kill anything that moves be it by arrow, bullet, or vehicle....or a bigger buck (also embarrassed by having this guy around) I might shoot at it. As all of this is going thru my mind while I am standing up a tree the buck will make the decision for me. The white flag waves at me from a distance.

The buck has a pretty fair chance to make it to next year around here - especially with the low quality antlers. Typically, one of our bucks at age 3.5 is already showing it if he has a lot of potential. This one shows no potential, but who knows with this one. We dont live in an area with a high fawn recruitment so we dont go out and just shoot a couple of does for meat. This would be a good meat deer - but his antlers are intriguing.

 

[Gravel Road]

How old is that deer? He looks like he has a bit of a gut and in the other pic he's really high in the back end like an older buck. I'm not used to looking at summer coat bucks, especially in the south areas, so curious if he is older?

 

[SwampCat]

How old is that deer? He looks like he has a bit of a gut and in the other pic he's really high in the back end like an older buck. I'm not used to looking at summer coat bucks, especially in the south areas, so curious if he is older?

I dont have any history with this deer. I would put him at least 3.5. As you say - he is a summer deer. In two months - I might call him 4.5