Age please?

Spurhunter

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Guesses? I know it's not the best angle but it's all I got.
cd83e3d2910fb9482089f46d0f8b248f.jpg


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Andy S.

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Spurhunter":bale7pys said:
I am curious why you asked about the date.
Generally speaking, December is post rut for most of the state, so it could very well be a very active rutted down 3.5 that appears to be a 2.5 from that single pic looking at the camera (not the best pose for sure).
 

TheLBLman

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To add to what Andy said, typically, the only times body profiles are highly accurate in buck age estimation (and still often a year off)
is about a month before most females come into estrous, and maybe going up to a month after. For much of TN, this period would be approximately mid-October into early December.

That time-frame runs later in a few southern counties, such as mid-Nov into early January.
So to guess better, we should ask both the date and the approx. date of peak estrous for the buck's area.

Since there is more a tendency to under-age rather than over-age,
ages would typically be GUESSED by the minimum age of high certainty,
such as guessing this particular buck as "2 1/2 or older".
 

TheLBLman

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Like how Spurhunter blocked the view of the antlers,
as the initial age guess shouldn't be influenced by antlers.
Certain antler characteristics can be used in an attempt at finer tuning a guess,
such as if this particular buck had a lot of mass and long beams,
my answer might be changed to 3 1/2 or older.
 

Spurhunter

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Andy S.":1fxsya3e said:
Spurhunter":1fxsya3e said:
I am curious why you asked about the date.
Generally speaking, December is post rut for most of the state, so it could very well be a very active rutted down 3.5 that appears to be a 2.5 from that single pic looking at the camera (not the best pose for sure).
I did not realize that. I assumed a buck would show his age year round. Thanks for the information. You can learn a lot around here!

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Spurhunter

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TheLBLman":va5h1vu9 said:
To add to what Andy said, typically, the only times body profiles are highly accurate in buck age estimation (and still often a year off)
is about a month before most females come into estrous, and maybe going up to a month after. For much of TN, this period would be approximately mid-October into early December.

That time-frame runs later in a few southern counties, such as mid-Nov into early January.
So to guess better, we should ask both the date and the approx. date of peak estrous for the buck's area.

Since there is more a tendency to under-age rather than over-age,
ages would typically be GUESSED by the minimum age of high certainty,
such as guessing this particular buck as "2 1/2 or older".
I did not realize that. I assumed a buck would show his age year round. Thanks for the information. You can learn a lot around here!

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Spurhunter

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TheLBLman":1zndrfim said:
Like how Spurhunter blocked the view of the antlers,
as the initial age guess shouldn't be influenced by antlers.
Certain antler characteristics can be used in an attempt at finer tuning a guess,
such as if this particular buck had a lot of mass and long beams,
my answer might be changed to 3 1/2 or older.
You caught on to that I see! I have noticed people will tend to use antlers over body in aging many times. This buck has (at least from this view) a skinny young body but his antlers are a different story. I'm not an age guy. A shooter is a shooter to me regardless of age, but this buck looked so odd I wanted some guesses.

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Andy S.

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FWIW, I've seen numerous 5.5 year old bucks look like a 2.5 bodywise, ESPECIALLY post rut. I suspect he is at least 3.5, and likely older. Deer are like humans in that some of them never have the big neck muscular front end that we like to think all 4.5/5.5 bucks do.
 

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