#1736642 - 01/20/10 01:16 PM
Question about identification
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TLRanger
8 Point
Registered: 10/10/02
Posts: 1041
Loc: Nashville
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I have noticed that several people on this forum have the ability to recognize a certain buck from the time he has buttons until he is five or six years old. I can't. I would like some pointers on how to be sure it is the same buck from year to year. I can recognize certain deer from year to year because of some significant feature such as an albino but other than that, I am at a total loss. Any help is appreciated.
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Twentynine Pines Hunting Club: Carroll Co. TN
Whitetail Lodge Hunting Club: Nelson Co. KY
USMC - Naval Security Group
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#1736652 - 01/20/10 01:25 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: TLRanger]
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tndrbstr
16 Point
Registered: 10/06/05
Posts: 12157
Loc: knox co tn
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I generaly don't even try....The biggest advantage in my opinion is haveing sole control on enough acerage that you have the luxury of being able to learn and get farmiliar with particular deer to begin with...so that right there cuts a lot of us... I know it does me...
Many very sutle antler caracteristics are consistant from one year to the next on bucks, combine that with any unique physical abnormalitys.... Deer are individuals, they have quirks just like people...
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#1736726 - 01/20/10 02:23 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: tndrbstr]
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bowriter
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/31/02
Posts: 40305
Loc: Lebanon,TN USA
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For me, there is only one way. That is to see that particular deer on almost a daily basis. Some deer have distinctive markings or mannerisms. But you have to see them regularly. I have a few deer that are in my yard almost daily or nightly. It is like a pet dog, you just learn to recognize them.
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Constipation has ruined many a good day. Not as many as stupidity, though.
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#1736771 - 01/20/10 02:47 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: TLRanger]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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I have noticed that several people on this forum have the ability to recognize a certain buck from the time he has buttons until he is five or six years old. I can't. I would like some pointers on how to be sure it is the same buck from year to year. I can recognize certain deer from year to year because of some significant feature such as an albino but other than that, I am at a total loss. Any help is appreciated.
I certainly can't do it from buttons until maturity unless that deer has some very unique body marking.
In addition, I would probably never be able to follow a particular deer without trail-cameras. When hunting you may only have a few seconds to look at a deer. Unless that deer has some extremely obvious characteristic to follow from year to year, I can't imagine being able to do so.
Now some have the chance to "glass" bucks in open fields during the summer. That would certainly increase the possibility of identifying individual bucks from year to year.
The only way I can follow some bucks is through trail-cameras. You can sit and look at pictures for hours. Often you don't notice some identifying characteristic on a buck from one year to the next until you've looked at pictures for months. Heck, there have been times I didn't realized I had the same buck on camera from one year to the next until years afterwards (stumbled across the connection while reviewing old trail-cam pictures for a completely different reason).
But for those bucks I can follow, on rare occassion it is due to a unique body marking, usually differences in the shape/size of the black "chin-strap" deer have around their lower jaw just behind their noses. Some bucks have very unique chin-strap markings. But most often, I can follow a buck from year to year by antler shape characteristics. From 2 1/2 years of age onward, most bucks have similarities in the shape and configuration of their antlers. The big problem with using antlers is the difference in shape from yearling to 2 1/2 year-olds. A buck's rack as a yearling often has no relationship what-so-ever with his antlers later on in life. Without unique body markings, how could a yearling spike be linked to a 2 1/2 year-old 8-pointer?
So for bucks from 2 1/2+, I can often identify the same buck as he advances in age, primarily by his antlers.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1736777 - 01/20/10 02:54 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: BSK]
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AlabamaSwamper
12 Point
Registered: 06/03/04
Posts: 5024
Loc: Southern Wayne CO and NW Alaba...
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Good example
'06
'07
'08
Edited by AlabamaSwamper (01/20/10 03:00 PM)
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#1736780 - 01/20/10 02:56 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: AlabamaSwamper]
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AlabamaSwamper
12 Point
Registered: 06/03/04
Posts: 5024
Loc: Southern Wayne CO and NW Alaba...
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'08
'09
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#1736784 - 01/20/10 02:59 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: AlabamaSwamper]
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AlabamaSwamper
12 Point
Registered: 06/03/04
Posts: 5024
Loc: Southern Wayne CO and NW Alaba...
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'08
'09
Edited by AlabamaSwamper (01/20/10 03:01 PM)
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#1736789 - 01/20/10 03:02 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: AlabamaSwamper]
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vabuckbuster
8 Point
Registered: 10/01/08
Posts: 2077
Loc: Virginia
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Man that is the biggest 6 I've ever seen
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We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them - Albert Einstein
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#1736829 - 01/20/10 03:22 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: BSK]
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AlabamaSwamper
12 Point
Registered: 06/03/04
Posts: 5024
Loc: Southern Wayne CO and NW Alaba...
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I'm not 100% certain but here he is in '07
(MY FAVORITE PIC OF ALL TIME)
I have a pic of I think this same buck in '08 but its on my home PC. He looks identical each year, just a little bigger. In the '07 pic, I'm pretty certain that buck is a yearling. The '08 pic looks like a 2.5 and this next pic is of a 6pt that looks identical but for sure 3.5. Killed just below the ridge where every single picture I have of him was taken for 3 years.
Here he is dead in '09
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#1736837 - 01/20/10 03:24 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: AlabamaSwamper]
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AlabamaSwamper
12 Point
Registered: 06/03/04
Posts: 5024
Loc: Southern Wayne CO and NW Alaba...
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Having trail cam pics of these older bucks with 6pts, allows us to agree to shoot them. Plus, they must be mounted. That keeps folks from shooting the wrong deer being stupid.
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#1737012 - 01/20/10 04:57 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: Hillbilly Hunter]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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Extremely cool HH!
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1737211 - 01/20/10 06:20 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: BSK]
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vabuckbuster
8 Point
Registered: 10/01/08
Posts: 2077
Loc: Virginia
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Wow! What did that 6 weigh? that's a hoss
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We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them - Albert Einstein
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#1737271 - 01/20/10 06:43 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: vabuckbuster]
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Hillbilly Hunter
Killbilly
16 Point
Registered: 07/15/05
Posts: 16982
Loc: Branchville
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207 live weight, around 170-175 dressed.
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#1737936 - 01/21/10 07:49 AM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: ]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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i dont see it in a lot of them
Just like field-judging age, it is an acquired skill.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1737977 - 01/21/10 08:06 AM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: BSK]
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Setterman
8 Point
Registered: 12/31/09
Posts: 1783
Loc: Knoxville, TN
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I do not even try unless the deer has some sort of feature, defect, or marking that makes it obvious. Here is one example:
This deer has a cleft palate and I have picutres of him from the last 3 seasons. He is always in the same areas, and never shows up on any of the other 10 trail cams I have running on this property. He oscillates bewteen 2 different cams, which are about 500 yards apart. I have been seeing him since he was a button buck 4 years ago, and this year he is 3.5. At 4.5 next year he will be mature enough to harvest, but it is doubtful I will take him out. Were friends, sort of 
This is from this year:
This is from last year:
This is from 2007:
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#1737986 - 01/21/10 08:10 AM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: Hillbilly Hunter]
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Hillbilly Hunter
Killbilly
16 Point
Registered: 07/15/05
Posts: 16982
Loc: Branchville
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I think he was 4.5 in 2004, which will put him at 7.5 when he was killed.
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...they never call me by my name, just Hillbilly...
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#1738025 - 01/21/10 08:34 AM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: BigWes50]
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Setterman
8 Point
Registered: 12/31/09
Posts: 1783
Loc: Knoxville, TN
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Here is another one:
This one has been on my property for eons, I shot this deer in Nov 2004, he looked to be 4.5 years old at the time,and was a typical 8 pt. He survived the shot which hit him high as you can see, and stayed around through Feb of 2009. After that he vanished and has not shown up again.
I am 99.999999% positive it is the same deer I shot as the trail cam pics, and sighting always come from the same locations near where I hit him years ago. It was one of those weird circumstances where he went straight down and then a few minutes later he got back up and took off, leaving little blood and never to be found.
I had several chances to kill him after the initial shooting, but let him slide. If he took a 7mm to the back, and lived he earned passage. I also was able to get several of his sheds over the years.
Here are his pics:
2007
2008
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#1738043 - 01/21/10 08:46 AM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: Setterman]
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tndrbstr
16 Point
Registered: 10/06/05
Posts: 12157
Loc: knox co tn
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Ouch!,...hes got a chunk gone....Its got that brahma bull look goin on.... 
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#1738058 - 01/21/10 08:53 AM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: tndrbstr]
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mathews338
10 Point
Registered: 11/05/09
Posts: 3989
Loc: jackson co.
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great pics guys and cam pics are a must
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#1738405 - 01/21/10 11:52 AM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: TLRanger]
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TLRanger
8 Point
Registered: 10/10/02
Posts: 1041
Loc: Nashville
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Thanks guys........I only run one camera and only run it in early season to try to get a general idea what is in my area. I guess you would have to have many cameras and keep meticulous logs to trace the life of a particular buck.
_________________________
Twentynine Pines Hunting Club: Carroll Co. TN
Whitetail Lodge Hunting Club: Nelson Co. KY
USMC - Naval Security Group
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#1738413 - 01/21/10 11:58 AM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: TLRanger]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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...and keep meticulous logs to trace the life of a particular buck.
That's EXACTLY how it is done. It isn't the number of cameras (although the more photographs the better), it is the meticulous record-keeping. And even then, I may not realize I have a buck from one year to the next until I stumble across the connection by accident, while looking for something else in the data.
Some of the simularities from one year to the next are very subtle. But like snow-flakes, every buck's antlers are going to be unique in some way and these unique characteristics are often carried for life.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1738431 - 01/21/10 12:08 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: BSK]
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spitndrum
Team TLBB Woodpile Boys
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/09/06
Posts: 50720
Loc: Cumberland Plateau
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Good Thread!
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#1738445 - 01/21/10 12:13 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: spitndrum]
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Winchester
Non-Typical
Registered: 12/05/03
Posts: 25246
Loc: TN
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I too have discovered I have many photos of a particular buck after 2 or 3 years of pics. I have also killed bucks and then discover them later in my pics, not realizing which buck I killed until later analyzing pics. On the flipside I have also been sitting in a stand and see a buck and recognize him immediately, like theirs 'browtines' or theirs 'wideside' or 'slim' some you actually feel like you know after enough exposure to them over several years. Trail cams completely changed deer hunting in some ways!
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#1738464 - 01/21/10 12:24 PM
Re: Question about identification
[Re: Winchester]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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On the flipside I have also been sitting in a stand and see a buck and recognize him immediately, like theirs 'browtines' or theirs 'wideside' or 'slim' some you actually feel like you know after enough exposure to them over several years. Trail cams completely changed deer hunting in some ways!
I don't give my bucks "names" (just my scientific side trying to avoid "emotion") but I guarantee you've I've been sitting in the stand and upon seeing a buck said to myself, "Oh look, it's Buck #0814!"
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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