Never seen him before. I'd like to see in person.
New 6 showed up
- Thread starter 74MOPAR
- Start date
BSK
Well-Known Member
Strange that some on here say they've never seen an older true 6-point buck. Running camera censuses, I see them all the time, even mature 6-pointers.
Nice buck by-the-way!
Nice buck by-the-way!
I rarely see them. About half of yearlings I see are 6pts or 8pts and the rest less. By 2.5yrs the vast majority of bucks I see are 8pts or more. I suspect it's property specific.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Yes it is. For instance, unmanaged hardwood forest (low quality habitat) often will display 50% of yearlings being spikes and 100% will be 6 or fewer points. And even for older bucks, antler point counts are lower. In the same hardwood habitat, perhaps 30% of 2 1/2 year-old bucks have 6 or fewer points and 0% of 2 1/2s having 9 or more points. On the flip side, very productive habitat may display only 15% of yearling bucks being spikes while 10% of yearlings having 8 or more points. The same productive habitat may have less than 15% of 2 1/2 year-old bucks having 6 or fewer points, and upwards of 20% of 2 1/2s having 9 or more points. I'm working a census right now in very productive habitat where 24% of 2 1/2 year-old bucks have 9 or more points. That's WAY outside the norm for TN.
That's way outside the norm for anywhere I've ever seen, let alone hunted! That's an incredible spot assuming the deer grow big frame racks.
I don't have near the resume of properties you've worked & studied, nor have I organized data/stats the way you do, but your numbers seem to parallel what I've seen. The handful of places I keep up with are for my own personal hunting. But they're all very different. What I've noticed is that a specific property will have a set of dominant characteristics that most of the bucks exhibit. Rack shapes, tine count, growth trends, etc. seem to repeat generationally. I always assumed it was site specific genetics but if I understand you correctly it's more habitat driven?
BSK
Well-Known Member
Yes, it is more habitat driven.
At the above mentioned very productive habitat property, what really stands out to me is the number of kicker points these bucks grow. In most of TN, kickers start showing up in a few bucks at 3 1/2 but really don't manifest themselves strongly until bucks are 4 1/2+, and even then it is a minority of bucks. At the high-quality habitat property in question, even 2 1/2 year-old bucks are displaying kickers, and some of the 3 1/2 year-old bucks that carry a 10-point mainframe actually have 12 to 13 points due to all the kickers.
At the above mentioned very productive habitat property, what really stands out to me is the number of kicker points these bucks grow. In most of TN, kickers start showing up in a few bucks at 3 1/2 but really don't manifest themselves strongly until bucks are 4 1/2+, and even then it is a minority of bucks. At the high-quality habitat property in question, even 2 1/2 year-old bucks are displaying kickers, and some of the 3 1/2 year-old bucks that carry a 10-point mainframe actually have 12 to 13 points due to all the kickers.
That's interesting. I've never given much thought to what causes abnormal points outside of injury or illness or old age. I see it now & then but it always seemed random. I guess I'll have to pay more attention.
Dennis
Well-Known Member
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- Aug 27, 2019
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That is interesting to me also. I know the best way to age a buck is by body characteristics, not rack. But still, when I see a buck with stickers, especially if those stickers have any length to them, it biases my age assumption toward 3.5+ or 4.5+. Same thing with heavy mass, it makes me think 4.5+. I've seen a number of heavy racked bucks that aged less than that by tooth wear, so probably I need to stop thinking that way.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Just remember that toothwear only gives you an accurate minimum age. And the older a buck actually is, the more likely toothwear will under-age him.
