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Tennessee Hunting Forums
Quality Deer Management
Growing Mature Bucks
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<blockquote data-quote="DeerCamp" data-source="post: 5501601" data-attributes="member: 21011"><p>QDMA is a good place to start.</p><p>The number one indicator of antler size is age. That's it. Period. </p><p></p><p>And high grading is a huge issue in states like Tennessee. A lot of folks have gotten to where they can pass a 110" 2 year old. But what about a 125" 3 year old?</p><p></p><p>A 3.5 YO has only reached 75-80% of their antler potential, So a 125 inch 3.5 yo has a very realistic potential of reaching 150" as a fully mature buck.</p><p>A 3.5YO buck is NOT a mature buck.</p><p></p><p>At 4.5 they have reached full body maturity size and now all those nutrients that have been building skeletal structure can now go straight to the antlers.</p><p></p><p>If you live in the delta region in TN, you've got a pretty good shot at producing high quality buck, but with the new CDW limits, it's going to be very hard.</p><p></p><p>Here in Henderson County, the average 3.5 year old buck is 100-110", so we can realistically expect that buck might eventually reach 125-140" at full maturity. </p><p></p><p>The outlier bucks that are 120-125" at 3.5 are maybe 10% (guess) of all bucks - not many people are passing that buck, so the total number of those bucks making it to full maturity is low. And if they do make it to full maturity, it's likely because they are the type of buck to not participate in the rut heavily, and probably don't travel a lot in comparison to other bucks.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]159614[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>In Oklahoma where I was last week, the deer are bigger on average, but the number one indicator is that a lot of deer out there are living to 4 and 5.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DeerCamp, post: 5501601, member: 21011"] QDMA is a good place to start. The number one indicator of antler size is age. That's it. Period. And high grading is a huge issue in states like Tennessee. A lot of folks have gotten to where they can pass a 110" 2 year old. But what about a 125" 3 year old? A 3.5 YO has only reached 75-80% of their antler potential, So a 125 inch 3.5 yo has a very realistic potential of reaching 150" as a fully mature buck. A 3.5YO buck is NOT a mature buck. At 4.5 they have reached full body maturity size and now all those nutrients that have been building skeletal structure can now go straight to the antlers. If you live in the delta region in TN, you've got a pretty good shot at producing high quality buck, but with the new CDW limits, it's going to be very hard. Here in Henderson County, the average 3.5 year old buck is 100-110", so we can realistically expect that buck might eventually reach 125-140" at full maturity. The outlier bucks that are 120-125" at 3.5 are maybe 10% (guess) of all bucks - not many people are passing that buck, so the total number of those bucks making it to full maturity is low. And if they do make it to full maturity, it's likely because they are the type of buck to not participate in the rut heavily, and probably don't travel a lot in comparison to other bucks. [ATTACH type="full" width="516px" alt="1670452618236.png"]159614[/ATTACH] In Oklahoma where I was last week, the deer are bigger on average, but the number one indicator is that a lot of deer out there are living to 4 and 5. [/QUOTE]
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