More Aging Quizzes

I will post a current photo. Take a guess on age and then as you scroll down I will give other photos that will help to narrow it down. And trust me on them being the same deer. Sometimes it takes a bunch of different angles but I am sure these are all the same deer.

Tips Touch 6pt



this is from 2015






Holyfield II






I let him walk in 2015 with high hopes.






Floppy







I literally have tons of pics of deer like this.

Its interesting to look at. I am learning better how to age at our property. Which I'm guessing every area is different. But a lot of deer that I thought were good 2 yr olds are actually 3 or older. I have passed a ton of them now and have a club full of mature mediocre racked bucks. We have had very few actual two year olds that I had to worry about getting shot. Maybe 2 or three in 7 years.

Let me know if yall would like to see more of these

Basshunter,

I know you are working real hard on this age thing.

Think you are in Tattnall county or somewhere right there in SE Georgia.

Do you have photos of 3 to 4 year old deer that are not genetically inferior? In that area, you should have some deer that grow into the 125-140” range.

I lived in Savannah and hunted that area for almost 20 years. We saw (and killed) tons of deer like the ones you are showing and they were all the same – 125-150 lbs with small 6-8 pt racks. I am thinking they were all 1.5 to 2.5 year old deer. They were easy to see and easy to kill.

As time went by, WE changed. We shot does and started waiting on different bucks and the 120" bucks that weighed 180 – 210 lbs started to show up in our trucks.

The bucks that you are showing appear to weigh 150 lbs or less. Are you thinking these guys can shove around a 200 lb deer that sports a 18-20’ rack? And your fear is that these aged, inferior deer are breeding your does – or do you feel these more mature bucks are simply NOT in the area to fend off these smaller bucks?

In my time, I have seen several instances in which 150 lb bucks with small racks (regardless of age) were instantly cowed or tossed out of the way by 180 lb 18” buck – they know they can’t compete so they (generallly) don’t try.

Now I am not saying these smaller bucks don’t breed – they do. If they catch a doe and can get to her before a more dominant buck shows up – they will most assuredly mount her… if she will let them.

I have seen instances, also, where one hot doe was leading 6-8 bucks along single file, ranging from little 4 pointers to mature 9-10 pointers. In one of those cases, I shot the last one in line and he was roughly 180 lbs and had 18” thick rack. Without my intervention, I know perfectly well which buck was going to breed that doe – he was. The rest of them were running around like their heads were on fire, he was just trotting along - because he already KNEW what the outcome was going to be. Or at least he thought he knew.

If I were you, I would shoot 2-3 of those deer (weigh them) and then have the jawbones professionally aged – without telling the person doing the aging what you think. I believe this is the only way you are gonna solve your puzzle.

You also know, from a research standpoint – by some very learned folks – that you are swimming upstream trying to “fix” your herd by culling – right?

I am not – but if I was you – I would quit worrying about them. Either shoot them or don’t – that is your call.

If I wanted big bucks, I would do what trained biologists all tell us to do – nutrition and time. Food for growth and time so they can reach maturity.

Got no ag?

Big deal – look at what David Hemly has been able to do – he has no ag within miles, but they add plots and feed protein like it is going out of style – and they DO NOT shoot small bucks. They have TONS of bucks that will make your eyes pop out.

I say all of this with no insult whatsoever.

Go look at some photos of known 4.5 and 5.5 yo deer and you should see what is a remarkable difference in body structure… they look like freaks but so few people see them because so few people let them grow up like that.



Best of luck, sir.

Dot know what the question is. I see numerous bucks from many different years. O don't think but a few are the same deer. None appear over 3.5 and most are 2.5 or younger.

Jim I appreciate your thoughts. I am not taking any offense to anything and I am not stressing about any of this. It is what it is.
Like the guy that posted under you Jim that just doesn't think any of these deer are older than 2. But must not have taken the time to look at the dates and read my post.

I have hunter all over the southeast and haven't seen deer like this anywhere else. These deer are much smaller on average thought we have had a couple exceptions. We do weigh most of the deer and the biggest we ever killed was 190 lb 8 pt that seems like an anomaly among the rest of the deer. The 7-8 ur old buck we killed was 185. I've killed a 220 lb buck in screven that wasn't very old. Killed a 205 lb five yr old buck in Bulloch from my avatar. I'm saying most of our older mature deer are 160-180 tops.

We don't have have a lot of room to plant much and we do some supplementary feeding but I feel it's not doing anything because I can't afford to do it like it needs to be done.

I'm trying to show that a these bucks that appear 2 by rack and body are a little older. I have photo proof that even after three years the bucks are nearly the same size.

It's happening time after time. There was a nice ear wide 8 pt that just showed back up. We all have him a pass last urar because he looked like what most people would call a 2:5 yo. I just got him on camera and I would say he may have gained 6" total and has nearly the exact same rack.

Well this is obviously disappointing. We have a lot of bucks. I'm just trying to figure out how to make room for the right bucks. And if I can age these deer correctly then I can start thinning these 3 yr olds that aren't gonna amount to much.

Forget genetics this is to free up food and let some better young bucks be more dominant.

I've had a few bucks Jaws aged. I do need an unbiased professional to look at some of my jawbones.

Most of the bucks we kill and mount we don't extract the jaw but I ask he tax to pull it and have it aged because he knows a professional. But I think he just bases it in the deers antlers. We killed a buck I aged at 5 last year because I had him on camera for at least three seasons and he was nearly the same size all three seasons just got a little bigger each year. And the tax told him it was a young buck. So he lost my confidence.

The buck named Holyfield above has looked nearly the same since 2015. He area he lives he is the only mature buck. I have a few decent mature bucks show up there every season but they don't hang around. Yet he is always there. I'm 99 percent sure he is 5.5 years old.

I save any picture of a young buck that has a distinguishing feature. So I would say 80 percent of decent racked bucks that show up I can go back and find them as a 1 or 2 ur old. Most of the time you can't distinguish them from one yes old to two yrs old and two to three yr old by comparing racks. They usually make big jumps. But then they keep the same basic shape and size unless an injury or something was affecting them.

So Jim let's say I'm right about these ages? Do you think it would be advantageous to remove some 3 and 4 yr olds that have weak racks?

We killed two ten points last year that by body I aged at 3. They were deer that I would have lived to be passed on but both hunters mounted them and were very happy with them.

Ok here are some good exception bucks.

In 2014 I aged this deer at 2.5. I believe I was right. Now he would be 5.5. Look at how scrawny his body is as a 2 yr old. Now compare that to some of the bodies of these 5 and 6 points I have?




Heres one that I wanted to be a 2.5 yr old in 2011, but I now believe he was at least 3 in 2011





Here is another one I believed was a good 2.5 yr old with potential in 2015 and he turned in to a nice 3.5 yr old ten in 2016. But he is now on the wall.



Here is a nice 2.5 yr old I considered to have potential, but he was shot by a 12 yr old.



Here is one I'm a little hung up on. If he is 1 and 2 in these two photos he could be something cool. IF he is 2 and 3 then probably not until hes like 7.




Like I said I haven't had many young bucks that showed a lot of potential and unfortunately like most places the ones that look good at three end up getting shot. But we are a close group of friends and family. We try to have fun with it. My dad isn't much on letting 3 yr old ten points walk. So I deal with it and would rather hunt with him than go hunt at a trophy club and kill monsters!

Great data BassHunter.

Well prepared and I commend you.

No, I would not shoot them.

Remember what the professionals say.....

If you are truly interested in growing deer, reach out to David Hemly. He has it nailed down. food, food, food and almost no buck harvest.

Or consider moving to a better county.

I do not feel you can "cull" your way to a better herd.


Be safe

Jim Boyd said:

Great data BassHunter.

Well prepared and I commend you.

No, I would not shoot them.

Remember what the professionals say.....

If you are truly interested in growing deer, reach out to David Hemly. He has it nailed down. food, food, food and almost no buck harvest.

Or consider moving to a better county.

I do not feel you can "cull" your way to a better herd.


Be safe

Click to expand...

Ok Jim,

I get what your saying and I have watched and read a lot of what David Helmy did in texas and in other places. *Edited.... I was thinking about David Morris not Hemly from bucks of tecomate when I read this, but he says the same thing. Sorry

So you think that pouring the food to these deer will make a big difference?

Do you think nutrition is the reason to have a bunch do 4 and 5 yr old 6 and 7 points?

Also, on 1200 acres I would say I already have 50 different bucks on camera of which maybe 5 are shooters. Trying to feed all those bucks and does is a lot of food. Don't you think it would be smart to thin the herd a little so that the deer that are here can benefit more?

So lets lose the word "cull" If I am gonna seriously get these bucks on a feeding program, wouldn't it be good if I could identify some bucks that live on the property and don't have much potential and remove them?

And I'm really just trying to figure this out. I value your knowledge and opinion.

It just makes sense from what I'm seeing. I can identify bucks that have good potential and bucks that don't at this property. Now I admitted that we have shot a few of these good potential bucks earlier than I would have liked, and hopefully this gets better, and is something that is easier to control.

There are so many variables when it comes to trying to manage wild deer and it makes me think that no research can answer all the questions because I believe every area has different specific variables.

The mature bucks undoubtedly like what we are doing and giving them, or I don't think I would have such success keeping them around on 1200 acres that is surrounded by small hunting clubs with little buck management in mind.

So lets narrow this down to my scenarios

A) We keep our buck harvest limited to only really big old bucks and up their supplemental feeding and food plots as much as possible.

B) We keep buck harvest limited to bucks 3.5 and older and try to specifically harvest bucks in this age class that have poor racks. And leave any bucks in this age class that appear to have potential. And up their supplemental feeding and food plots as much as possible.

These are my two options.
With the goals in mind of having a good healthy herd of deer with the highest number of mature bucks the property can sustain with the biggest antlers.

And I really feel B would work better though I have a lot of people saying A. And I just haven't heard any good reasoning. I understand there are articles and many pros and biologist have different opinions, but I havent' seen enough specifics. Because ultimately I have been trying to do option A for 6 years. Its hasn't been perfect but that is what I have been going by.

You can’t think of your property as a finite area. All of those deer are roaming on other properties as well as you getting pics of deer that roam to yours. You can do nothing about genetics. Your two options are
A: Supplemental feed and food plots to the best of your ability and manage does. Keep the ratio healthy and shoot does to accomplish thinning the herd.
B: just hunt and shoot what what you’d like and let the rest walk. Take the “It is what it is” approach.

Not as easy to age one laying down, but take a guess on this one. I had the jaw bone aged. Deer weighed 245 lbs and came from middle GA. Main frame 10 with a split g2 grossed 151.

I cannot comment on where your hunting. On my place, 38ac in Coweta I plant about 1.5 ac of plots in the spring and fall. I have been feeding protein for 2 years, this year I used buck muscle, last year was FRM midway 20. I have not killed anything off my place in 7 years, others do hunt close by so there are some harvested. I have a rather nice resident doe heard and usually a good fawn crop. I have spent probably 45.00 a week (all spring and summer 3+ bags a week) on feed and then around 75 on the plots. I can say without a doubt that feeding does work. It is expensive but the weight the deer have put on is very noticeable. The antlers are bigger but the body the biggest. I think you would see an increase in antlers if you implemented a feeding program. I wasn't trying to dismiss your aging of the deer, they just don't all look like the same ones to me. In the original thread if pic 1 and 3 are the same deer he would be 9 and he does not look it.
As said above, just shoot what you want and leave the rest.
As for the deer above I'd guess 4.5, they get big in the piedmont.

Cmcharles said:

Not as easy to age one laying down, but take a guess on this one. I had the jaw bone aged. Deer weighed 245 lbs and came from middle GA. Main frame 10 with a split g2 grossed 151.
View attachment 916414

Click to expand...

Posting these pics is to help show that aging is not always as easy as you might think.

Obviously you can't really age from the angles given with the deer in the pic, but I will take a guess anyway.

He is a nice buck and obviously eating good a heavy deer for anywhere in GA, but middle Ga is known for heavier deer. His face doesn't look old but his weight says he's not too young. So my guess would be 4.5, but I assume that it is a trick and he is either really young or old since your asking.

as for the post above that.
I would also like to add that the roaming deer thing is true, but I considering these bucks aren't getting killed and they appear to stay on my property 90 percent of the time I feel it does give me a somewhat finite situation. Also, this brings up another thing Ive been thinking about geographical borders that keep these deer in a smaller area. Rivers, Highways, and large spans of pasture with no cover are all things surrounding me.

ucfireman said:

I cannot comment on where your hunting. On my place, 38ac in Coweta I plant about 1.5 ac of plots in the spring and fall. I have been feeding protein for 2 years, this year I used buck muscle, last year was FRM midway 20. I have not killed anything off my place in 7 years, others do hunt close by so there are some harvested. I have a rather nice resident doe heard and usually a good fawn crop. I have spent probably 45.00 a week (all spring and summer 3+ bags a week) on feed and then around 75 on the plots. I can say without a doubt that feeding does work. It is expensive but the weight the deer have put on is very noticeable. The antlers are bigger but the body the biggest. I think you would see an increase in antlers if you implemented a feeding program. I wasn't trying to dismiss your aging of the deer, they just don't all look like the same ones to me. In the original thread if pic 1 and 3 are the same deer he would be 9 and he does not look it.
As said above, just shoot what you want and leave the rest.
As for the deer above I'd guess 4.5, they get big in the piedmont.

Click to expand...

The date was wrong on pic 3 I typed above the pic it was from 2015. Sorry if that threw you.

I try to post pics that show the deer and body best for their age. It takes a lot of different angles and pics to show that these are the same deer.

This is madness! What's the point?

hrstille said:

This is madness! What's the point?

Click to expand...

The Original post is just showing some deer with lots of history on trial cam to help figure out ages.

Some of the comments are stemming from some other post I've made recently referring to taking out mature deer with bad racks.

Which is all predicated on the fact that I know he age of the inferior bucks I'm looking to remove.

A lot of people are suggesting this will have no positive effect for my goals.

Though they keep saying this I would like to hear some more personal and detailed proof to it not working.

He was 3.5, a genetic lottery winner. Biggest body weight deer we’ve killed on our place in 8 years. 4.5-5.5 bucks we’ve killed have all weighed 210-225, 3.5 have weighed 185-205. Some deer just have the right DNA to be big, if that one would have made it to 5.5 he very well could’ve been Boone and Crockett. Some deer just don’t, and aren’t gonna make it big.

If there was a town full of people that were all less than 5’6” tall how many 6’ plus kids are going to be born there??? Every once in a while a set of recessive genes will win out and you will have an anomaly, but you won’t be building any NBA teams from there.

No different than having a pasture full of solid black cows. You aren’t going to expect any white faced or red calves. It’s just not in the genetic make up of the herd.

Cmcharles said:

He was 3.5, a genetic lottery winner. Biggest body weight deer we’ve killed on our place in 8 years. 4.5-5.5 bucks we’ve killed have all weighed 210-225, 3.5 have weighed 185-205. Some deer just have the right DNA to be big, if that one would have made it to 5.5 he very well could’ve been Boone and Crockett. Some deer just don’t, and aren’t gonna make it big.

If there was a town full of people that were all less than 5’6” tall how many 6’ plus kids are going to be born there??? Every once in a while a set of recessive genes will win out and you will have an anomaly, but you won’t be building any NBA teams from there.

No different than having a pasture full of solid black cows. You aren’t going to expect any white faced or red calves. It’s just not in the genetic make up of the herd.

Click to expand...

The above is the point I've been trying to make about "culls".

Jim Boyd said:

Basshunter,

I know you are working real hard on this age thing.

Think you are in Tattnall county or somewhere right there in SE Georgia.

Do you have photos of 3 to 4 year old deer that are not genetically inferior? In that area, you should have some deer that grow into the 125-140” range.

I lived in Savannah and hunted that area for almost 20 years. We saw (and killed) tons of deer like the ones you are showing and they were all the same – 125-150 lbs with small 6-8 pt racks. I am thinking they were all 1.5 to 2.5 year old deer. They were easy to see and easy to kill.

As time went by, WE changed. We shot does and started waiting on different bucks and the 120" bucks that weighed 180 – 210 lbs started to show up in our trucks.

The bucks that you are showing appear to weigh 150 lbs or less. Are you thinking these guys can shove around a 200 lb deer that sports a 18-20’ rack? And your fear is that these aged, inferior deer are breeding your does – or do you feel these more mature bucks are simply NOT in the area to fend off these smaller bucks?

In my time, I have seen several instances in which 150 lb bucks with small racks (regardless of age) were instantly cowed or tossed out of the way by 180 lb 18” buck – they know they can’t compete so they (generallly) don’t try.

Now I am not saying these smaller bucks don’t breed – they do. If they catch a doe and can get to her before a more dominant buck shows up – they will most assuredly mount her… if she will let them.

I have seen instances, also, where one hot doe was leading 6-8 bucks along single file, ranging from little 4 pointers to mature 9-10 pointers. In one of those cases, I shot the last one in line and he was roughly 180 lbs and had 18” thick rack. Without my intervention, I know perfectly well which buck was going to breed that doe – he was. The rest of them were running around like their heads were on fire, he was just trotting along - because he already KNEW what the outcome was going to be. Or at least he thought he knew.

If I were you, I would shoot 2-3 of those deer (weigh them) and then have the jawbones professionally aged – without telling the person doing the aging what you think. I believe this is the only way you are gonna solve your puzzle.

You also know, from a research standpoint – by some very learned folks – that you are swimming upstream trying to “fix” your herd by culling – right?

I am not – but if I was you – I would quit worrying about them. Either shoot them or don’t – that is your call.

If I wanted big bucks, I would do what trained biologists all tell us to do – nutrition and time. Food for growth and time so they can reach maturity.

Got no ag?

Big deal – look at what David Hemly has been able to do – he has no ag within miles, but they add plots and feed protein like it is going out of style – and they DO NOT shoot small bucks. They have TONS of bucks that will make your eyes pop out.

I say all of this with no insult whatsoever.

Go look at some photos of known 4.5 and 5.5 yo deer and you should see what is a remarkable difference in body structure… they look like freaks but so few people see them because so few people let them grow up like that.



Best of luck, sir.

Click to expand...

This reminds me of the story about the Bulls.
There was an old bull and a young bull. They stood on top of the hill looking down on all of their cows. Young bull said to old bull, lets run down there and breed a cow? Old bull looked back and said, why don't we walk down there and breed them all?

I will say this, we have a club that is approx 1/2 mile or less from us through the woods. We get some decent deer on camera from time to time. This club feeds a high protein feed out of season. They have more pictures of bigger bodied and larger racked bucks then we get. However we don't slaughter the does on ours and neither do they. Come Rut we get several pics of the deer they are paying big bucks to feed on our cameras. Some they have photos of are 1 mile as a crow flies from where we get their pics.

BassHunter25 said:

The Original post is just showing some deer with lots of history on trial cam to help figure out ages.

Some of the comments are stemming from some other post I've made recently referring to taking out mature deer with bad racks.

Which is all predicated on the fact that I know he age of the inferior bucks I'm looking to remove.

A lot of people are suggesting this will have no positive effect for my goals.

Though they keep saying this I would like to hear some more personal and detailed proof to it not working.

Click to expand...

Lucky for you, you don't have to do the work. There are plenty of well done controlled studies out there that prove culling free range bucks will not make any difference what so ever on antler size. Just google it. It's easy to find. I do think culling can serve 2 good purposes that help i other ways. 1. If you are feeding and plan to harvest deer anyway, and can be certain you have seen the potential of the deer, it's one less mouth to feed that won't add more deer to the heard like a doe would, not will it be a trophy. So might as well enjoy the harvest.
2. Harvesting "cull" bucks rather than does or other bucks with potential lets you take some deer with out hurting your heard.

Just done use the term "cull" in conjunction with genetics

ProAngler said:

Lucky for you, you don't have to do the work. There are plenty of well done controlled studies out there that prove culling free range bucks will not make any difference what so ever on antler size. Just google it. It's easy to find. I do think culling can serve 2 good purposes that help i other ways. 1. If you are feeding and plan to harvest deer anyway, and can be certain you have seen the potential of the deer, it's one less mouth to feed that won't add more deer to the heard like a doe would, not will it be a trophy. So might as well enjoy the harvest.
2. Harvesting "cull" bucks rather than does or other bucks with potential lets you take some deer with out hurting your heard.

Just done use the term "cull" in conjunction with genetics

Click to expand...

Pretty much what I've been trying to say. I will add that after doing it for ten years I disagree with harvesting too many does. When we took out a lot of does we lost bucks too. So I like a 2 does tomebry mature buck ratio.

Also what you said makes perfect sense. But I stil feel like it's undeniable that we effect genetics when we harvest a deer. The overall effects may be microscopic but they would still be effects.