Antler Growth vs. Age in ND

[Rowdie]

I sure do chuckle when I read about people telling the age of a deer on the hoof. I have never seen a deer with a birth certificate. I have hunted deer for 46 yrs and still cant tell the age. I can tell if its a muture deer. And age is only a guess unless you cut out the teeth or have a biologist age it.

Now people will say they have pictures of said deer for 5 yrs. If the same buck breeds the same doe for 5 yrs straight and she has say 9 fawns in them 5 yrs and 4 are bucks, I'm pretty sure the bucks racks will all be pretty close in likeness as they age.

That same buck may breed the SAME TWO DOES (or more) which would double that to 8 similar bucks, 24 for stabbing the same 3 does for years.....which in my mind is very possible.

 

[guywhofishes]

That same buck may breed the SAME TWO DOES (or more) which would double that to 8 similar bucks, 24 for stabbing the same 3 does for years.....which in my mind is very possible.

fat chance in reality though

http://wp.auburn.edu/deerlab/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Irvin-Stephanie-MS-Thesis.pdf

 

[Duckslayer100]

First buck I ever shot was aged by the taxidermist at 6.5 years old. I never had the rack scored, but I doubt it's over 150.

He was an old, corn-fed buck and took me 4 hours to drag back to the truck (about twice as long as normal). Then it took three of us (two on the ground, one in the bed) to actually lift him. He was a heavy SOB, but definitely no Monster Buck as far as rack was concerned.

Then again, I've never shot one bigger.

 

[guywhofishes]

you will - should you ever decide that's a goal of yours

 

[Bowhunter_24]

I sure do chuckle when I read about people telling the age of a deer on the hoof. I have never seen a deer with a birth certificate. I have hunted deer for 46 yrs and still cant tell the age. I can tell if its a muture deer. And age is only a guess unless you cut out the teeth or have a biologist age it.

Now people will say they have pictures of said deer for 5 yrs. If the same buck breeds the same doe for 5 yrs straight and she has say 9 fawns in them 5 yrs and 4 are bucks, I'm pretty sure the bucks racks will all be pretty close in likeness as they age.

You can 100% watch the same deer for 3-5 years. With trail cameras and shed antlers it’s simple. Not to mention you can use certain body characteristics or markings to be sure. (Shape of white patch, notch ear, old wounds). With shed antlers u can match them up undeniably.

but I do agree you hear some people say they’ve been hunting the same deer for 5 years way more often then it actually happens. If a 140”+ deer makes it one year in ND it’s damn near a miracle.

 

[Duckslayer100]

you will - should you ever decide that's a goal of yours

Some day when the kids are older and I have enough time to spend in the woods and wait, I will. Now I get a weekend and that's it. By Saturday afternoon on opener, the next deer that comes by with horns gets a free ride home with me.

 

[Ruttin]

I followed this buck for a few years before connecting with him in 2016. Sent his teeth in and he was aged at 7 1/2. He never got any bigger than 135".

 

[Uncle Rico]

I have only been doing it for a couple years, but obviously 1.5 yr olds are pretty easy to identify, both by antler and body shape.

Even the 2.5 yr olds I think are fairly easy to tell by their long legs. The thing I find interesting, at least on our cameras, is that it almost seems like most of our 2.5 yr olds have roughly the same amount of antler in them for that year, but how they get to that number widely varies. For example, many are perfect looking 4x4s. Some are real tall and not as wide. Some are wide with short tines. But at the end of the day, they all generally seem have about the same amount of antler.

Once they get beyond that age, I have far more trouble I think. I would actually love to hear more from people re: what they use to identify and follow bucks from year to year. I have a hard time getting good pics of the throat patch it seems. I did have one last year with a notched ear, but I could swear he's around this year without the notch. Do they heal?

 

[Davey Crockett]

I have paid attention for many years and I honestly can't say for positive that I have watched the same deer two years in a row, Good chance that I have but it seems like a lot of local bucks carry the same traits. I was watching a fairly mature buck that I thought was very active until an identical twin or half brother ?? They showed up together a few times and were a perfect pair. Couldn't tell them apart with glass or the naked eye at 40 yards but maybe with a trail cam I would have been able to pick out some variance in the white. For close to 10 years I was seeing webbed sticker points at the end of one or both main beams and I thought it looked horrible on an otherwise respectable typical rack. Just as fast as that trait showed up it disappeared.

 

[wby257]

That same buck may breed the SAME TWO DOES (or more) which would double that to 8 similar bucks, 24 for stabbing the same 3 does for years.....which in my mind is very possible.

That is very true.

Good point

 

[bowhunter88]

may be a stupid thought, but shouldn't the doe's genetics from her father be factor in her offspring? Say a buck breeds two does that were offspring of two different bucks with totally different looks and genetics?

 

[luvcatchingbass]

I have only been doing it for a couple years, but obviously 1.5 yr olds are pretty easy to identify, both by antler and body shape.

Even the 2.5 yr olds I think are fairly easy to tell by their long legs. The thing I find interesting, at least on our cameras, is that it almost seems like most of our 2.5 yr olds have roughly the same amount of antler in them for that year, but how they get to that number widely varies. For example, many are perfect looking 4x4s. Some are real tall and not as wide. Some are wide with short tines. But at the end of the day, they all generally seem have about the same amount of antler.

Once they get beyond that age, I have far more trouble I think. I would actually love to hear more from people re: what they use to identify and follow bucks from year to year. I have a hard time getting good pics of the throat patch it seems. I did have one last year with a notched ear, but I could swear he's around this year without the notch. Do they heal?

Over the years in my area I have noticed very similar, I've come down to that there are 2 different gene pools. Although our neighbors daughter got a wide tall 5x5 with youth rifle on our place that changed that theory but it didn't have much mass yet and seems that it was a younger buck, it is still funny that its a bigger buck than her dad and how jealous the boys at school are and I still chuckle when a swing by and see it on the wall.
As far as watching the same deer on camera from year to year we have had a couple we catch 2yrs for sure but not very many. If I'm hunting for head gear I used to try to look at the body first if I have time then the head, now I think I judge a deer on body size first and the rest just becomes gravy after that. Bigger body=mature deer=more meat (although maybe not as tender). Then there are the days where I say to myself "that one looks tasty enough"

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I still think I am not very good at guessing but it is fun to try.