5 brow

[Livin2hunt]

Young deer but will be curious to see what he turns out when hard horned. We don't get many out of the ordinary bucks up my area.

 

[BSK]

Interesting!

The older I get, the more interested I become in killing really "unique" antlered bucks. One day I hope to kill a true nontypical, something crazy.

 

[Livin2hunt]

Interesting!

The older I get, the more interested I become in killing really "unique" antlered bucks. One day I hope to kill a true nontypical, something crazy.

I'm with ya! I hope you get your chance at one! I had one I was chasing up north for a few years and never could get it done. The neighboring farmer ended up getting him with a combine shelling corn late in the season that year. I was so disgusted!

 

[MFDfire15]

That's pretty slick

 

[Livin2hunt]

A little over a month of growing and 5 brow showed back up on cam. Young deer but cool looking.

 

[rifle02]

He really is cool.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Cool character.

 

[redblood]

Interesting!

The older I get, the more interested I become in killing really "unique" antlered bucks. One day I hope to kill a true nontypical, something crazy.

Very neat deer. I have gone just the opposite. The rack itself means very little to me. Age is the only thing that matters to me now. Something about killing an animal that has survived for so long and jas traveled so many miles. Unfortunately, my older aged bucks are often pretty unimpressive in the age rack category. My last 3 were aged at 4.5 (thought he was 5.5), 5.5 and 6.5. The best one scored 119. All were aged by cementum annuli. Here is the 6.5.

 

[Ski]

Very neat deer. I have gone just the opposite. The rack itself means very little to me. Age is the only thing that matters to me now. Something about killing an animal that has survived for so long and jas traveled so many miles. Unfortunately, my older aged bucks are often pretty unimpressive in the age rack category. My last 3 were aged at 4.5 (thought he was 5.5), 5.5 and 6.5. The best one scored 119. All were aged by cementum annuli. Here is the 6.5.

That sounds just about exactly like my experience here in southern middle TN. Almost never see a buck bust 120" at any age. Almost never see one live really old either. Seems 5 or 6 is where they fall off the earth. I can't say for sure I've ever ever for certain seen a 6yr old here.

 

[BSK]

That sounds just about exactly like my experience here in southern middle TN. Almost never see a buck bust 120" at any age. Almost never see one live really old either. Seems 5 or 6 is where they fall off the earth. I can't say for sure I've ever ever for certain seen a 6yr old here.

In ridge-and-hollow hardwoods, 6 1/2 year-olds are rare. In 20-something years I've picked up only one 7 1/2. The stress of the rut in that environment is too much for them.

 

[Ski]

In ridge-and-hollow hardwoods, 6 1/2 year-olds are rare. In 20-something years I've picked up only one 7 1/2. The stress of the rut in that environment is too much for them.

That sure seems to be the case. Oddly it's not like that up north. The deer im currently hunting in Ohio is 7.5yrs this season. Will be my third year hunting him. One I killed a few years ago was at least 7.5 if not 8.5. He was a full frame 10pt when he first showed up and went on to have 5yrs of cam history before killing him.

I'm not sure what the difference is. Perhaps they get older because of the cooler climate and longer winters?

 

[tree_ghost]

That sure seems to be the case. Oddly it's not like that up north. The deer im currently hunting in Ohio is 7.5yrs this season. Will be my third year hunting him. One I killed a few years ago was at least 7.5 if not 8.5. He was a full frame 10pt when he first showed up and went on to have 5yrs of cam history before killing him.

I'm not sure what the difference is. Perhaps they get older because of the cooler climate and longer winters?

I would think stress of the winters up there would be harder on them but who knows

 

[Ski]

I would think stress of the winters up there would be harder on them but who knows

One would think so. But maybe it's the stress of warm weather ruts that are harder on southern deer? I really have no idea why there's such a difference, only that there is a difference. Up there is don't even think about starting to hunt a buck until he's 5, knowing it may take multiple seasons to get it done. But here in TN if I don't kill him by the time he's 5yrs then I'll have missed my opportunity.

 

[BSK]

But here in TN if I don't kill him by the time he's 5yrs then I'll have missed my opportunity.

Exactly. I don't why the rut is so hard on our hill-country deer. I think it is a combination of the terrain and winter food sources. But I've talked to other biologists in the Southeast, and they agree, in ridge-and-hollow hardwoods, easy getting them to 5. Hard getting them to 6. Nearly impossible getting them to 7. Yet in nearby level farm country, bucks make it to 8 or 9.

In fact, that's why it's so hard to produce a high percentage of bucks that are mature. They don't live long into maturity, so the percent of the total buck population that is mature each year is never high. But in big ag, bucks live so much longer that you CAN produce a fairly high percentage. In ridge-and-hollow hardwoods, the best I've seen is around 16% of all antlered bucks being mature. My own property is half that (8%). Yet ag areas? Even in TN I've seen percentages close to 25%.

 

[Ski]

In ridge-and-hollow hardwoods, the best I've seen is around 16% of all antlered bucks being mature. My own property is half that (8%). Yet ag areas? Even in TN I've seen percentages close to 25%.

I'm going to have to run numbers but 8% sounds pretty dang good to me. 25% sounds unimaginable. By mature are you counting 5yr+ or including 3 & 4 year olds? That could make a huge difference in percentages.

 

[Livin2hunt]

Those are great numbers in my opinion. I would probably say just guessing we are around 3% to 5% at best on our farm here in TN if including down to 3 yo's. Our best deer up north are never summer home deer. I start inventories up there once velvet is gone. We have all the ladies on our farm so we get the surrounding bucks come cruising time. If we have good bucks during summer its usually a bonus for us.

 

[BSK]

I'm going to have to run numbers but 8% sounds pretty dang good to me. 25% sounds unimaginable. By mature are you counting 5yr+ or including 3 & 4 year olds? That could make a huge difference in percentages.

Oh, my 8% is fantastic for a smaller property. But on the big clubs I work with (thousands of acres) I never really expected them to get to 15-16%. That's an amazing percentage when most bucks aren't making it to 6.

By "mature," I mean any buck 4 1/2 or older.

 

[Ski]

Those are great numbers in my opinion. I would probably say just guessing we are around 3% to 5% at best on our farm here in TN if including down to 3 yo's. Our best deer up north are never summer home deer. I start inventories up there once velvet is gone. We have all the ladies on our farm so we get the surrounding bucks come cruising time. If we have good bucks during summer its usually a bonus for us.

I don't count it as mature until 5yrs so my numbers are pretty low, well below 10% im certain. Maybe below 5%. If i were counting 3yr+ my numbers would be safely above 10% but doubtful 20%.

 

[BSK]

Biologically, a buck is mature at 4 1/2.

On my place, percentage for 3 1/2+ run 20-25%.

 

[Livin2hunt]

I only wish we had those %'s. We are working hard to get there. 4 or 5 yo's maybe 1%. I'm like ski up north. I eat many tags waiting on the older mature deer.

 

[Ski]

I eat many tags waiting on the older mature deer.

Doesn't bother me a bit to not kill anything because when I do, it'll be worth the wait.