Finally got the boys of fall visiting!

[Ski]

This is an ohio buck. Been catching him on cam for 3 years and he's been a full frame 10 the entire time. Gains mass and brow length each year but frame hasn't changed much at all. He's never "blown up", but rather steadily gotten incrementally bigger each season. I love this stuff!

Left to right is 2022, '21, '20

 

[Ski]

Any guesses on how old he might be? Nothing about him has changed much in 3yrs aside from antler mass and brow length. His body still looks like a 3.5-4.5 to me, same thing I thought first time seeing him. I'd assume he's no less than 5 but I'm not seeing it???

 

[DoubleRidge]

Agree...based on your history and pictures year to year no less than 5½ possibly 6½.

Off topic...but in the 2022 pic do I see some habitat work in the background? Looks like some chainsaw work

 

[Ski]

Agree...based on your history and pictures year to year no less than 5½ possibly 6½.

Off topic...but in the 2022 pic do I see some habitat work in the background? Looks like some chainsaw work

Oh yes. Keen eye! I love this stuff maybe even more than the actual hunting. And there's 0.000 doubt that it enhances the hunting experience.

The scrape tree in that pic is a hackberry nubbed off at 6ft and holes bored into it that I stick oak branches into, then hang grapevine from. It's a small plot on the military shelf just below a high point knob where 3 major ridges adjoin. You wouldn't believe the deer activity in that tiny plot.

 

[Falconi]

Is the title an Eagles reference? ;-)

 

[Specializedjon]

I'd say 4.5 to 5. Great buck. He needs a dirt nap. Good luck

 

[Ski]

To quote the Catman, he's a dead year old!

While caping him for taxidermist, we found a broke off antler tip embedded in his head. Then as I was carving the meat from one of his front quarters I found a puss pocket and broadhead with broken arrow inside. He also had a healing wound from yet another arrow that passed through the top of his right shoulder and exited under his left front leg. It was clearly a two blade head with wide cut. No idea how he was still alive. It had to have double lunged him. These critters are tough.

 

[cbhunter]

To quote the Catman, he's a dead year old!

While caping him for taxidermist, we found a broke off antler tip embedded in his head. Then as I was carving the meat from one of his front quarters I found a puss pocket and broadhead with broken arrow inside. He also had a healing wound from yet another arrow that passed through the top of his right shoulder and exited under his left front leg. It was clearly a two blade head with wide cut. No idea how he was still alive. It had to have double lunged him. These critters are tough.

Congrats!

 

[LenS]

That is a great buck and it is always cool to get one that you have lots of photos of. Any clue how much he weighed?

 

[Speedwell-Hunter]

This is an ohio buck. Been catching him on cam for 3 years and he's been a full frame 10 the entire time. Gains mass and brow length each year but frame hasn't changed much at all. He's never "blown up", but rather steadily gotten incrementally bigger each season. I love this stuff!

Left to right is 2022, '21, '20

you hunting in ohio or is ohio buck a term for a beast?

 

[Ski]

That is a great buck and it is always cool to get one that you have lots of photos of. Any clue how much he weighed?

Taxidermist guessed in the neighborhood of 300lbs. I'm 6'2" x 240lbs and it dwarfed me.

 

[Ski]

you hunting in ohio or is ohio buck a term for a beast?

Southern Ohio. I have property up there that I work the habitat for deer hunting.

 

[megalomaniac]

Any guesses on how old he might be? Nothing about him has changed much in 3yrs aside from antler mass and brow length. His body still looks like a 3.5-4.5 to me, same thing I thought first time seeing him. I'd assume he's no less than 5 but I'm not seeing it???

Just seeing this... excellent example of how one can be familiar with body characteristics for a particular locale and be spot on, but completely miss it for another geographic location. Based on the trail cam pic, plus assuming it is in TN, plus assuming you are correct that this is the same buck you've seen for the past 3 years and hasn't added any inches to the rack... I would guess him as a 5.5 or 6.5 yo that was significantly underweight (175lbs live weight) in TN.

The fact that he weighed 300lbs on the hoof make me realize I have to completely throw out everything I have learned about aging deer on my farm compared to other locales!

 

[Ski]

Just seeing this... excellent example of how one can be familiar with body characteristics for a particular locale and be spot on, but completely miss it for another geographic location. Based on the trail cam pic, plus assuming it is in TN, plus assuming you are correct that this is the same buck you've seen for the past 3 years and hasn't added any inches to the rack... I would guess him as a 5.5 or 6.5 yo that was significantly underweight (175lbs live weight) in TN.

The fact that he weighed 300lbs on the hoof make me realize I have to completely throw out everything I have learned about aging deer on my farm compared to other locales!

Night and day difference between those deer and southern deer. They look the same but there's a scale difference. A normal adult doe on the hoof would be 200lbs ballpark up there.