Please help me age this deer

[Glenn Tullius]

i think 2.5, but no older than 3.5 , based on your information. We have the same issue here in MN, brown is down, along with a DNR sponsered genocide program.

 

[Plowboy85]

I hope I am not hijacking this thread and I concur with the group 3.5ish. His shoulders/brisket doesn't look full and his face doesn't quite indicate an older deer. However, those fleshy features are heavily determined by adequate nutrition and time of rut, even a mature healthy deer can look poor post rut and the inverse with a young deer in the corn belt. Edited to remove the hijack...I knew better, my apologies to the OP.

 

[trebark]

to the OP, your deer is 3.5 years old. There's good research that shows whitetails generally reach their full potential at 3 to 5 years old.

 

[Orange Dust]

I hope I am not hijacking this thread and I concur with the group 3.5ish. His shoulders/brisket doesn't look full and his face doesn't quite indicate an older deer. However, those fleshy features are heavily determined by adequate nutrition and time of rut, even a mature healthy deer can look poor post rut and the inverse with a young deer in the corn belt. Here is the possible hijacking part, if it is please say so and we can not address this. What do we think his age is? I haven't gotten the best angles of him.

3-1/2-5-1/2 if a soybean deer. Possibly older if deep woods. Def mature, but not showing signs of age. Might not get any bigger, but will get more mass. This is only a guess, but I've cut a lot of jawbones out, and that is the only way to a more positive age. Possibly younger in an area with good genes and great nutrition, but I seriously doubt he is older than 4-1/2.

 

[trebark]

I hope I am not hijacking this thread and I concur with the group 3.5ish. His shoulders/brisket doesn't look full and his face doesn't quite indicate an older deer. However, those fleshy features are heavily determined by adequate nutrition and time of rut, even a mature healthy deer can look poor post rut and the inverse with a young deer in the corn belt. Here is the possible hijacking part, if it is please say so and we can not address this. What do we think his age is? I haven't gotten the best angles of him.

You are hijacking.

 

[nerka83]

I'm not sure if this is allowed but I would love some opinions! Will this buck be getting any bigger if allowed to grow for another year??

 

[nerka83]

One ages deer by their teeth. Out west he's a dink. Maybe next year or two he'll be a 4pt. or an 8pt eastern count.

 

[Plowboy85]

There is a long term extensive research by Miss State and Texas A&M that heavily supports the amount of antler growth by age considering a steady nutritional plane. The same work supports that the difficulty of harvesting 5.5 and older bucks is increasingly difficult due to the mortality rate that becomes exponential. While I support the consensus of harvesting mature bucks we can't set the goal to high if our environment is harsh or neighboring property's practice brown is down.

 

[6.5x300 WBY]

For me he is definitely going to get bigger. He is atleast 3.5 but 4.5 is not out of the question. For me to guess i would say 4.5. Good luck

 

[SSG Graybush]

I'm not sure if this is allowed but I would love some opinions! Will this buck be getting any bigger if allowed to grow for another year??

Looking at the body he's 3.5 or 4.5 at the oldest. Give him 1 more year if your property is bigger enough to do qdm. Imo. But a few more side pics would reall help to age him better

 

[nerka83]

I have. This is a duplicate.

 

[nerka83]

Delete this please.

 

[RYEWSKY25284]

To answer your question, no genetics are pretty bad in this part of the state. WV has AWFUL deer management. Too many people believe if it's brown it's down. I've attached two of the next biggest bucks on cam on the property. We own 600 acres and are trying to build up a strong deer herd and manage on our own however public land borders the property making it difficult. My largest buck to date from the property was 110" and was considered rare big buck. Was about 2.5 yrs and wasn't wider than the ears. It's located middle of the state with litte nutrition so we aren't regularly growing huge deer

I'd put him like others have said 3 1/2- 4yrs. Nice rack. And if like you say the herd isn't that good, well he looks pretty good for being in a weak herd.
And if there's no hunting pressure in that area, let'm have another season. He'll only get bigger.
my .02 cents

 

[hoffbill]

Having managed ranches in Texas for many years as well as raised cattle, my philosophy which I practice and encourage others to at least consider is this: Would I go out to the pasture, load up my prize bull and take him to the slaughter house because I am running out of hamburger? No I would take an old or non productive cow or a steer. Translated to deer, unless I am planning to mount a trophy for the wall I will not shoot that type of genetics I would like to see more of in the herd. For venison I shoot spikes (deer equivalent of a steer in cattle herd except they can pass poor genetics) , or I shoot old does and bucks for sausage. To me shooting a buck with a top notch rack in his prime breeding years is poor management and mostly ego. For trophy purposes, they must be an exceptional rack and should be judged as
fairly mature, 4.5yrs and up. If you are in an area where great racks are rare this is especially important. Leaving good ones to breed is the only way for it to get better.