Antler Spread / Guidelines & Mature Bucks

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Archer212

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Our club has an established guideline for harvesting an antlered deer of 16" (or as wide as its ears in the alert position). This gives the 20 hunters a reference point (ears) and allows these potentially very good 1.5 year olds or 2.5 yr. olds to get older. There are some in our club who would like to see us "raise our bar" to try an improve the quality of our bucks. This all came about by a few bucks that were harvested that were slightly under the guidelines. There is a proposal of making it 18" outside spread. I for one am against this proposal for many reasons. Our club is trying to harvest mature bucks 3.5 and older. There are other more credible methods to use (body size, beam length and probably the best - trigger control) to help improve out buck quality / maturity. As mentioned we've have slightly under 16" bucks harvested in the past but this year we had a buck harvested that was 15.5 outside, 22" beams, 10 pts (G2's were 8"). Some are saying it should have been left go because it may have been a lot bigger next year. Yes it could get bigger but maybe never in spread. I have pictures of it last year that shows it close to the same spread size. I guess where I stand with this is we could do many, many other things (habitat improvement, sanctuaries, educate our hunters on mature buck traits, etc...) than split hairs worrying about what I think was a 3.5 year old buck already that was just never going to have a great spread. Any thoughts out there from you guys since it seems many may have some experience dealing with club members and goals.
 
Re: Antler Spread / Guidelines & Mature Bucks

That is just crazy. Try to get them to do a 2of 3 thing... either of the two must be met 8 points, 16 inches, 20 inch mains. It will be a good deer if 2 of the three is met. those numbers are what we went by in a MS club I was in. every deer shot scored better then 130. except maybe one or two a year.

But still better ways then judging antlers IMO
 
Educating hunters on what a mature deer's body looks like would help more than anything. I may be wrong, but I don't think spread has nothing to do with age.
 
Learn how to identify mature bucks by body conformation. It's not that hard to do. Atler restrictions will NEVER work to protect bucks to maturity. Some older bucks have very narrow racks and some wide. Some mature bucks only have 6 or even just 4 points.
 
I have a 2.5 10 pt with a 21" spread and 22" beams. I killed a 7 point Tuesday with about a 16" spread and 19" beams. This deer is at least 4.5 maybe older.
I know a man that has a 6 pt that scored in the 120's. It was 10.5+ (I think 13.5). It was an original stocked deer here, still had the tag in its ear. Based on the 2/3 rule if it had a narrow rack he would have walked.
 
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BSK - So what I wrote in my original posting is not wrong?

"I guess where I stand with this is we could do many, many other things (habitat improvement, sanctuaries, educate our hunters on mature buck traits, etc...) than split hairs worrying about what I think was a 3.5 year old buck already that was just never going to have a great spread."
 
AR's are the 'dummed-down' version to allow bucks to reach older age classes before being eligible for harvest. They MUST be based on local antler growing conditions, preferably to protect the 2.5 y/o age cohort. But it's the exceptions to the rule that are the killers... for example, the 2.5 y/o buck with 20" beams and 17" spread and 10 pts. He's better than 95% in his cohort, but that's EXACTLY the buck than needs to make it another couple of years (if you have any desire to kill 150+" bucks). Conversly, there are lower-end mature deer that may not meet harvest criteria that should be shot to free up food for the younger generation.

As stated previously, learn to age them on the hoof and set harvest criteria based on age, rather than antlers. It really isn't that hard to do.
 
Re: Antler Spread / Guidelines & Mature Bucks

Archer212,

If the goal of the club is high-scoring antlers, then limits will have to be set based on that criteria (antler score). If the goal of the club is mature bucks, then limits will have to be set based on age, and the best way to determine age is to learn to field-judge age.

Unfortunately, there are no antler characteristics that can be used to limit the harvest of bucks to only mature bucks (or any age for that matter). Each age-class will display such a massively wide range of sizes for each antler characteristic, that no measurement works well.
 
I can see alot of the mature bucks never having the spread that your club has put in place. I agree with SS age not antlers and a little trigger control on those small deer
 
It's a combination of 2 things...age and rack size. Body confirmation is all you can go by aging a deer on the hoof. Of course rack size figures in there to an extent because simply put, you're not going to see too many 1.5 year old deer with 120" antlers, etc. Learn to guesstimate a deer's age on the hoof. Sometimes this can be tricky until Fall when they fill out and muscle up for the rut. Even then it can be tricky at deer 4.5 plus. Racks come in all sizes and shapes. For example you may have "localized" genetics for narrow racks but that doesn't mean a few wide racks won't show up. It's hard to base a minimum criteria on racks period let alone based on number of points or spread. Many don't agree but I believe the best criteria is age and rack size in tandem. A minimum B & C score in addition to a 4.5 years or older should protect most 2.5 year old bucks provided your minimum score reflects your areas average potential. Last of all practice makes closer to perfect. The more you look at the better your guessing will be.
 

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