Average antler growth per year?

[bjohnson]

I've seen more good bucks on our lease this year than I ever have but I've passed on all of them because they are young deer. Except the bruiser that came through tuesday morning, couldn't get a shot on him. I only get to come up from Texas when the Army says I can, so I'm only in the woods during season for about two weeks. Now to my question, with proper nutrition and supplements through spring/summer plots and mineral blocks, how many inches does a buck gain on average in a year?

 

[Shed Hunter]

BSK and I discussed this in a PM once. I'd say this quote from him should answer your question.

I have that data from hundreds of trail-cam and harvested bucks. For my area, depending on the year:

(average gross scores)
1 1/2: 40-45
2 1/2: 80-85 [40 inch increase]
3 1/2: 105-110 [25 inch increase]
4 1/2+ 120-125 [15 inch increase]

On average, the increases--both percent and actual inches--get smaller with each year older. However, the trend and what an individual buck does can be two very different things. I've seen individual bucks do about anything imaginable.

The last two sentences are the most important to me. If you plotted this data, you would most likely get a very scattered scatter plot lol

 

[Anonymous]

There have been threads devoted to this topic. The growth of most yearlings on my place can't be measured in a percentage to 2 year olds. This is due to the fact that I can't differentiate what bucks were who the year before. Now and again I will have a yearling with a superior rack, measuring 80 to 100 inches. They are easier to follow. The higher end 2 year olds will typically see a 25% growth from 2 to 3. After that, I will see around 10 to 15 percent growth unless one decides to explode. The weather this year was great for antler growth. I think we will see greater antler growth in 2014 because the bucks had a prime 2013 with great conditions leading into the spring. Food sources have not let up in my part of the state. Unless we have a terrible drought in 2014, I expect to see some records broken during next years season. My average 2 year old in Williamson County will average 100 to 110 inches. The 3 year olds will go between 120 to 140 and mature deer will mostly go over 140. There will always be deer that perform well under, or over those measurements.