Good stuff, thanks. Writing down all the responses for reference when I take high res pictures
Age this guy.
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Hard rock
Well-Known Member
Looks like some pretty educated hunters , I'd say there aging is right on the money
Texas deer I'm assuming? What county? From the different pictures you posted I don't see a buck over 3 1/2 years old.
Deer are aged on the half year. So .5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 etc. So when i say 4yo i really mean 4.5yo btw. Young Texas deer antlers grow up before they grow out. They will have a "basket rack" for about the first 2-3 years. A 2yo 8pt with a 14" inside spread could easily be a 3yo 10pt with a 20" inside spread the following year.
I look at their back/top line first... how straight/flat is it? The more sway backed the older the deer. Backs start to sway around here at about 4-5 years. It starts at the withers first. The back will slope down from the tail towards the shoulder/heart girth area then "ramp up" over the shoulders.
2nd I look at the belly. If the buck has a straight underline then he's under 4 years old. If his belly doesn't drop below his flanks I'd call that a straight underline. If he has a pot belly then he's over 4 years old.
3rd I look at the face. If his face looks like it just came out of a pencil sharpener. He has a narrow nose and a slim jaw line he's under 4yo. If you see a 8pt with a big wide Roman nose....shoot it if legal! Because that buck is at least 6yo and ain't gonna get bigger.
4th I look at how well the deer carries antler mass out to the tips. Big thick beams and points means he's close to maxing out on horn growth. They may grow very similar sets of antlers the last 2 years that they are at the peak before they start to decline around 6 years old.
These are general observations I've had from shooting a checking teeth on low fence Texas whitetail deer for the past 29 years. These "rules" have held true from Del Rio to Clarendon Texas. I also showed cattle for 15 years as a kid and been around them for almost 40 years so my "eyes" for animals is a little different than people who look at 2 legged mammals more than the 4 legged variety lol.
If you really really want to become a better Texas whitetail deer judge and hunter .... set up a bow stand 30yds from your feeder! You will learn more at 30yds in a weekend than you will at 100yds in a couple of seasons!!! Set it up on the east or west side and try to keep it in the shade. I buy the 12-15ft tripod types when they go on sale. I use a CVA single shot in 300blk suppressed with subs. I think I paid $219 for the rifle and $1300 for the can. I still chuckle every time I bring it out at how ridiculous it is to have a can that cost 6x what the gun did lmao. It shoots sub moa nearly 1 hole groups at 50yds with a $300 athlon 1-8x lpvo. And I use an 8x range finder as my "spotting scope". When the weather is good I hunt out of the tripods.....when it's blowing 30mph and 20° I hunt out of the box blind.
I don't try to age a 2yo deer or 3yo deer... I take one look and I can tell he's not 5+ and then just enjoy watching them be....just deer! The worst thing a hunter at our camp can do is shoot a non mature buck. Cull bucks are shot at the beginning of the season before the rut so they don't spread the poor genetics. Big antlers don't= dominant buck. I've seen an old 3pt woop the crap out of a 140" buck half his age! Like John Wayne said "its not about being fast....it's about being willing".
One year we put deer pictures we gathered in the summer on playing cards like the CIA did with AL Qaeda. The ace of diamonds was a spike that we knew was very very old. My wife shot him and we aged him at 8+ years old.
Sorry for the sermon! Just trying to shorten the learning curve for ya!
Deer are aged on the half year. So .5, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 etc. So when i say 4yo i really mean 4.5yo btw. Young Texas deer antlers grow up before they grow out. They will have a "basket rack" for about the first 2-3 years. A 2yo 8pt with a 14" inside spread could easily be a 3yo 10pt with a 20" inside spread the following year.
I look at their back/top line first... how straight/flat is it? The more sway backed the older the deer. Backs start to sway around here at about 4-5 years. It starts at the withers first. The back will slope down from the tail towards the shoulder/heart girth area then "ramp up" over the shoulders.
2nd I look at the belly. If the buck has a straight underline then he's under 4 years old. If his belly doesn't drop below his flanks I'd call that a straight underline. If he has a pot belly then he's over 4 years old.
3rd I look at the face. If his face looks like it just came out of a pencil sharpener. He has a narrow nose and a slim jaw line he's under 4yo. If you see a 8pt with a big wide Roman nose....shoot it if legal! Because that buck is at least 6yo and ain't gonna get bigger.
4th I look at how well the deer carries antler mass out to the tips. Big thick beams and points means he's close to maxing out on horn growth. They may grow very similar sets of antlers the last 2 years that they are at the peak before they start to decline around 6 years old.
These are general observations I've had from shooting a checking teeth on low fence Texas whitetail deer for the past 29 years. These "rules" have held true from Del Rio to Clarendon Texas. I also showed cattle for 15 years as a kid and been around them for almost 40 years so my "eyes" for animals is a little different than people who look at 2 legged mammals more than the 4 legged variety lol.
If you really really want to become a better Texas whitetail deer judge and hunter .... set up a bow stand 30yds from your feeder! You will learn more at 30yds in a weekend than you will at 100yds in a couple of seasons!!! Set it up on the east or west side and try to keep it in the shade. I buy the 12-15ft tripod types when they go on sale. I use a CVA single shot in 300blk suppressed with subs. I think I paid $219 for the rifle and $1300 for the can. I still chuckle every time I bring it out at how ridiculous it is to have a can that cost 6x what the gun did lmao. It shoots sub moa nearly 1 hole groups at 50yds with a $300 athlon 1-8x lpvo. And I use an 8x range finder as my "spotting scope". When the weather is good I hunt out of the tripods.....when it's blowing 30mph and 20° I hunt out of the box blind.
I don't try to age a 2yo deer or 3yo deer... I take one look and I can tell he's not 5+ and then just enjoy watching them be....just deer! The worst thing a hunter at our camp can do is shoot a non mature buck. Cull bucks are shot at the beginning of the season before the rut so they don't spread the poor genetics. Big antlers don't= dominant buck. I've seen an old 3pt woop the crap out of a 140" buck half his age! Like John Wayne said "its not about being fast....it's about being willing".
One year we put deer pictures we gathered in the summer on playing cards like the CIA did with AL Qaeda. The ace of diamonds was a spike that we knew was very very old. My wife shot him and we aged him at 8+ years old.
Sorry for the sermon! Just trying to shorten the learning curve for ya!
We had a similar situation last year out west. Got pictures of a nice mature 150" buck in August and September then he vanished. I shot "the" dominant buck the first week of December and a week later that now 163 5/8" deer started showing up on camera again. My deer was 6.5yo and 143 1/8" and that deer was 5.5yo....might have even been father/son.
HaHa...Good catch! You are right... I'm judging by age for hunting season this coming winter!
Rhett Crider
Well-Known Member
Nose bridge, neck girth, back sway, belly sag, leg length to body girth ratio(legs look shorter but stockier). These are usually the quicker observations I use. Antlers for scoring, not aging. Ten years in old Mexico. Loved that ranch. Four guns on 2400 acres. One buck at 5 1/2 or older. Harvested 6 bucks in those 10 years. Rare to see older bucks until the rut started. Low fence (sierra baja). Lease bordered the Rio Grande, decided to leave in 2015 when traffic to the river started on it. Both kinds 
I love this description!! Sounds funny but that's a good description of exactly how they look!!
Rhett Crider
Well-Known Member
Hardest part, quit looking at the antlers. Main ranch where we slept/ate etc., was 6000 acre high fence. Had 10 guns on it and cleaning station for our harvests along w/ the other high fence hunters. Saw a lot of 3 1/2-4 1/2 yr olds hanging from some of those guys. Protein fed antler agers I guess.
Yep... Where we hunt I've seen several very young bucks weighing 50-60 with a huge racks for first sets that look awkward and they appear miserable having to carry em. Of course this is within the "off limits" high fence part where they get minerals fed year round along with high protein pellets and peanut hay trucked in from GA.
It's almost like a petting zoo. They get used to vehicles moving around putting out minerals and feed so when eventually turned out into the "hunting zone" they become easy targets just standing around the feeders.
Not real hunting in that part of the ranch. Big money maker for him though!
We hunt the other short fence ranch areas which have the natural West Texas population.
That's much better hunting to me.
@Rhett Crider we hunted south of Bracketville for 1 season. Matter of fact we were down there when Y2K was supposed to happen. We got tired of illegals getting in our campers. Game warden told us to leave everything unlocked and don't leave anything you wouldn't throw in a dumpster.
@Roughrice you are spot on as well! You saw what I saw 100%. Funny thing is....my dad is the deer hunter in the family. Im a deer shooter! I shoot what needs to be shot and could care less about rack size anymore. My old bedroom door frame is framed in spike horns screwed into the trim end to end. My best friend is from south Louisiana and if those folks can't figure out how to eat the antlers I guess they ain't worth having lol. I'm sure my dad is happy knowing all those freezing mornings he literally forced me to get out of that mouse haven of a pop-up camper we had knowing that I was going to be miserable till at least 10am paid off.
@Roughrice you are spot on as well! You saw what I saw 100%. Funny thing is....my dad is the deer hunter in the family. Im a deer shooter! I shoot what needs to be shot and could care less about rack size anymore. My old bedroom door frame is framed in spike horns screwed into the trim end to end. My best friend is from south Louisiana and if those folks can't figure out how to eat the antlers I guess they ain't worth having lol. I'm sure my dad is happy knowing all those freezing mornings he literally forced me to get out of that mouse haven of a pop-up camper we had knowing that I was going to be miserable till at least 10am paid off.
HaHa! There are some hard core hunters down south La. Some with the "Cook some rice, I'll eat it if it don't eat me first" mentality! Lol
Things aren't as they used to be when I was growing up. As seen on TV...There were known poachers who "lived off the land" and sold deer, squirrel, alligator and fish for cash year around for their necessities. The law would leave them alone as if to not even notice what was going on. Some say the wealthy and other high powered political officials would place their orders for venison or whatever else they needed for the big elaborate gatherings is one reason why they were left to do their thing. Everybody was happy! Lol
Funny how the smoke is always close to the fire!
Things aren't as they used to be when I was growing up. As seen on TV...There were known poachers who "lived off the land" and sold deer, squirrel, alligator and fish for cash year around for their necessities. The law would leave them alone as if to not even notice what was going on. Some say the wealthy and other high powered political officials would place their orders for venison or whatever else they needed for the big elaborate gatherings is one reason why they were left to do their thing. Everybody was happy! Lol
Funny how the smoke is always close to the fire!
That's definitely the bunch I run with.
They ask..... "do you kook Dat wit a rue or wit out" lol
Rick Richard
Well-Known Member
31/2 at the most. If you can, give him at least another year before taking him out of the herd.
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