Age?

[hunter0925]

Guesses on age? I think I know which one he is from last year and if so his rack won't be much but I believe I have a good guess on age and want to see if I'm close.

 

[Matador]

From the picture I don't see anything to really make me think it is over 2 1/2 year old. It may be older but its just a guess either way from the pic.

 

[DRSJ35]

I agree 2 to 2 1/2

 

[fairchaser]

I see a sagging belly, a smooth transition of the neck and brisket plus some decent mass to indicate a 3.5 year old.

 

[hunter0925]

I see a sagging belly, a smooth transition of the neck and brisket plus some decent mass to indicate a 3.5 year old.

That is very close to what I was thinking. At the same time I'm not an expert on judging, especially this early.

 

[TheLBLman]

I see a sagging belly, a smooth transition of the neck and brisket plus some decent mass to indicate a 3.5 year old.

That is very close to what I was thinking. At the same time I'm not an expert on judging, especially this early.

I agree with both of you, except for the mass, which seems a little below average for a 3 1/2.
May be best just to ignore those antlers.
Ignoring the antlers, I say 3 1/2 or older,
although I've been badly fooled many times by some very healthy, well-fed, early born 2 1/2's.

It is a horrible time of year to attempt much accuracy in aging.

 

[hunter0925]

I see a sagging belly, a smooth transition of the neck and brisket plus some decent mass to indicate a 3.5 year old.

That is very close to what I was thinking. At the same time I'm not an expert on judging, especially this early.

I agree with both of you, except for the mass, which seems a little below average for a 3 1/2.
May be best just to ignore those antlers.
Ignoring the antlers, I say 3 1/2 or older,
although I've been badly fooled many times by some very healthy, well-fed, early born 2 1/2's.

It is a horrible time of year to attempt much accuracy in aging.

It is a horrible time to age, I agree there. These deer are definitely not over Fed and the antlers in this particular area are generally well below average. I had a 2.5 7pt last year and a 3.5 8 That were both well below average. I try to totally ignore antlers when judging though.

 

[foodplot]

i say 3.5 or 4.5 He's got a big gut....!
if he's 2.5 he has access to lots of food......!

 

[TJS209]

Too hard to tell this time year. I remember BSK posted a % one year about his accuracy aging deer in the summer and it was low. I agree with him I think they all look like right now.

 

[tree_ghost]

I see a sagging belly, a smooth transition of the neck and brisket plus some decent mass to indicate a 3.5 year old.

My immediate thoughts as well


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TDW05]

I say 3 1/2 no more no less based on the rear being slightly larger then shoulders and neck has a little sag in brisket. No expert just a guess.

 

[wobblegobble]

It's only a guess this time of year and not an educated guess but I'd say 3.5 with horrible genes.

 

[hunter0925]

It's only a guess this time of year and not an educated guess but I'd say 3.5 with horrible genes.

Where this is at the people and I believe the deer may be inbread so the bad genes don't surprise me. Lol

 

[pass-thru]

It's June. The pic was taken in June. In the rest of the world deer are born in June, mostly. What month of the year are deer born in TN?

 

[tree_ghost]

It's June. The pic was taken in June. In the rest of the world deer are born in June, mostly. What month of the year are deer born in TN?

lol that's true. I'm a creature of habit and always add the 1/2 at the end of my age guesses.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TheLBLman]

What month of the year are deer born in TN? I'm a creature of habit and always add the 1/2 at the end of my age guesses.

Tree_Ghost, you are following the established "protocol"

For the purpose of consistency, adult deer are usually aged based in "X" years plus "1/2",
even if they're known to actually be closer to just "X".

Adult deer are normally "labeled" into categories of "2 1/2 or older", "3 1/2 or older", "4 1/2 or older", etc.,
or at some point simply "Fully Mature".

Say you have a buck known to have been born in late May 2014, perhaps because of some identifying mark such as an odd white spot on his side, it is now June 2017, and this buck shows up with velvet antlers on your trail cam. Although you know this buck is near exactly 3 years old, you would typically refer to him as a 3 1/2, indicating his age in the fall of the current year (again, for consistency, the established "norm" for aging deer).

In the real world, we normally don't know when a particular deer is born.
In TN, many or most may be born in May & June, but a small percentage may be born in April (sometimes even earlier), and a significant percentage are typically born late, such as in July & August. Have you ever seen a spotted fawn in October? Not that uncommon.

Also, as an aside, since this is another often misunderstood "label",
deer under 12 months of age are referred to as "fawns";
deer between 1 year of age and 2 years of age are referred to as "yearlings";
so a 1 1/2-yr-old buck is a "yearling".

Never mind many hunters commonly refer to "fawns" as "yearlings",
such as "I saw a doe and two yearlings that still had spots, come right under my stand on the first day of archery!" :tu: