Heck of a 2 1/2

[BSK]

My trail cam pics for 2.5 year old are nowhere near what you post here. One of the best 2.5 year old 8's i have ever gotten pics of would be this one. This is the high end, most are nowhere near this, likely 15-20 inches smaller. I would guess our 2.5 year old here for the most part are lucky to get in the mid 90's inch range.


And I did see him and let him walk. Not so sure others have done the same as I have not gotten pics of him in a couple weeks.

Our average 2 1/2 only grosses 82.5. And we have a heck of a lot of 2 1/2s that are only 6-pointers or big forkhorns.

But here are two more of the best 2 1/2s we've ever photographed.

 

[BSK]

I wouldn't say I regret shooting this Benton County deer, but If I could have a magic ticket to bring one buck back to life and watch him grow, it would be this one. I hadn't been hunting seriously very long, never even thought about passing this deer and was as happy as could be.

But I have some reasons to believe that this was a yearling buck. If you said 2.5 I wouldn't argue it. But, you can tell from this picture that he was very, very young. Very narrow snout. Small frame. His live weight was 107 lbs, and in hindsight his behavior was very much that of a yearling buck.

Either way....

I've been trying to locate it but can't as of yet, but somewhere I've got a picture of a little yearling buck with a perfect little 10-point basket rack. Outside spread can't be over 10 inches, but he was a perfect little 10-point. Anything is possible.

 

[Ski]

I've been trying to locate it but can't as of yet, but somewhere I've got a picture of a little yearling buck with a perfect little 10-point basket rack. Outside spread can't be over 10 inches, but he was a perfect little 10-point. Anything is possible.

That's not terribly rare on my Ohio place. Pretty common to have 8pt yearlings and the occasional 10pt. They look like any other yearling rack just extra tines.

 

[BSK]

That's not terribly rare on my Ohio place. Pretty common to have 8pt yearlings and the occasional 10pt. They look like any other yearling rack just extra tines.

The more photo censuses I do in big ag areas, and especially in unique soil conditions, the more shocked I am at what I find - even in TN. Want to see some monster bucks in TN? Head up into the sinkhole plain of north central TN around and north of Springfield. Basically, the area between I-24 and I-65 from Springfield and to the north. You see the same caliber of bucks as what is in southcentral KY. Giants.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Here are the average gross scores from my place, and these averages very closely match the averages for the Faith and King Ranches in TX. My data comes from estimating the scores of 793 bucks over 21 years of trail-camera pictures. I'll have to look up how many bucks were in the Faith and King Ranch numbers, but probably not more than that. The Faith and King Ranch data comes from actually placing hands on captured bucks and measuring them before releasing them. They would ear tag a large number of button bucks each year, so they knew the exact age of ear-tagged bucks captured in later years.

1 1/2 - 45
2 1/2 - 82.5 (percent increase from previous year - 83%)
3 1/2 - 105 (percent increase from previous year - 27%)
4 1/2 - 120 (percent increase from previous year - 14%)
5 1/2+ - 125 (percent increase from previous year - 4%)

BSK...from all of the data you have collected over the years did you once say (or would you say) the average mature buck in TN would be 120" or 125"?

 

[DoubleRidge]

That's not terribly rare on my Ohio place. Pretty common to have 8pt yearlings and the occasional 10pt. They look like any other yearling rack just extra tines.

September 2023...I'm really pulling for this young fella...hoping he makes it.

 

[Ski]

September 2023...I'm really pulling for this young fella...hoping he makes it.
View attachment 207526

That deer has legit promise!

 

[TX300mag]

When we were kids my brother killed a yearling 11-pointer. Wonder what he might have looked like at 5.5 years old?

 

[Cull Buck Hunter]

We don't see many 2 1/2s that look like this in my area. Average 2 1/2 scores only 82.5 in my area. Hope he makes it and hangs around for next year.

Dang that's a high quality video, what brand of camera?

 

[BSK]

BSK...from all of the data you have collected over the years did you once say (or would you say) the average mature buck in TN would be 120" or 125"?

At 4 1/2, 120. At 5 1/2+ 125. Not much difference, but a little difference.

 

[BSK]

Dang that's a high quality video, what brand of camera?

Browning Spec Ops Elite HP4s and HP5s. Video is jaw-dropping. The HP4s (if you can still find them) have different illumination at night than the HP5s. The HP4s have a wide-angle flash that lights up the entire video frame but doesn't illuminate as far into the dark. The HP5s have a spotlight effect that projects farther into the dark in the center but is a bit dark at the edges. I use the HP5s for open areas and HP4s for "in the woods."

 

[Kevin]

Browning Spec Ops Elite HP4s and HP5s. Video is jaw-dropping. The HP4s (if you can still find them) have different illumination at night than the HP5s. The HP4s have a wide-angle flash that lights up the entire video frame but doesn't illuminate as far into the dark. The HP5s have a spotlight effect that projects farther into the dark in the center but is a bit dark at the edges. I use the HP5s for open areas and HP4s for "in the woods."

Neither of these are cell camera's correct?

Do you run any video cell cameras?

 

[TheLBLman]

At 4 1/2, 120. At 5 1/2+ 125. Not much difference, but a little difference.

True, but the difference tends to be more a gain in circumferences,
which can make the antlers appear more massive than just a 4% gain in "B & C" score.

As they mature . . . . . .

They not only tend to get more of their "score" from circumferences, but often lose some tine lengths.

This could mean a 125" 5 1/2 "could" have 10% more "mass" (from circumference), and slightly shorter tines than a 120" (yet the "score" difference may be only 4%).

Bucks 5 1/2 & older have a tendency to develop odd or non-typical tines (on typical frame racks), which can add very unique aspects to their racks. This to me makes them a more unique trophy, even when they may "score" little more than when they were a year or two younger.

 

[BSK]

Neither of these are cell camera's correct?

Do you run any video cell cameras?

I run no cell cams what-so-ever. For my purposes (census data), they would be useless.

 

[BSK]

True, but the difference tends to be more a gain in circumferences,
which can make the antlers appear more massive than just a 4% gain in "B & C" score.

As they mature . . . . . .

They not only tend to get more of their "score" from circumferences, but often lose some tine lengths.

This could mean a 125" 5 1/2 "could" have 10% more "mass" (from circumference), and slightly shorter tines than a 120" (yet the "score" difference may be only 4%).

Bucks 5 1/2 & older have a tendency to develop odd or non-typical tines (on typical frame racks), which can add very unique aspects to their racks. This to me makes them a more unique trophy, even when they may "score" little more than when they were a year or two younger.

All of this is correct. Exactly what we see. Often have longest tine length at 4 1/2. Some tine length lost at 5 1/2+ but it is made up by gains in mass.

 

[TheLBLman]

And it is MASS that most "stands out" when you see a buck in a field over 200 yds away.
Sometimes you can see young 130-class 10-pointers (with long tines), and not even notice they have antlers. But often, a 120-class mature 8-pointer (with short tines) will really get your attention because you notice what appears to be a "massive" rack on his head, and can see it hundreds of yards away.

Once that basal circumference goes over 5 inches, huge difference in how antlers show up at 200-plus yards. I seldom see TN bucks younger than 5 1/2 yrs go over 5 inches.

 

[Rockhound]

Wow, that's not our experiences at all. We picked up the first mature buck on camera in 2003. Since then, we've had a total of 59 mature bucks on camera. Some of those are the same buck one year to the next, but in a given year we have "X" number of mature bucks to hunt. Add those all up and it comes to 59. Of those, how many have we killed? Just 11. And seven of those are mine ( four 4 1/2s, two 5 1/2s, and one 6 1/2). All other hunters combined hunting my place, just four (all 4 1/2) in 21 hunting seasons. Once they hit 4 1/2, they become ghosts. They are rarely (and some never) photographed during daylight, and they are rarely seen during daylight. Only once has a mature buck been seen other than the instance when he was killed.

To me, pursuing that kind of animal isn't fun. A worthy challenge, absolutely, but not fun.

My experience mirrors HH as well some deer it's when they transition to 5.5 but most when they transition to 6.5 yr that they settle down and stick to a core area and never seem to leave. It's just very rare that I have any make it to that age. I've had 2 in the last 4 years do it (both big 6 pts) and I get daylight pics of them almost daily in my 6 acre food plot. One of them visited my yard quite regularly. I think the amount of cover and food on my 80 acres draws them to live in that spot.

 

[BSK]

My experience mirrors HH as well some deer it's when they transition to 5.5 but most when they transition to 6.5 yr that they settle down and stick to a core area and never seem to leave. It's just very rare that I have any make it to that age. I've had 2 in the last 4 years do it (both big 6 pts) and I get daylight pics of them almost daily in my 6 acre food plot. One of them visited my yard quite regularly. I think the amount of cover and food on my 80 acres draws them to live in that spot.

That's very interesting Rockhound.

And there's a reason 6-pointers are the most likely to make it to old age - hunter high-grading. I see it on clubs all the time.

 

[Rockhound]

That's very interesting Rockhound.

And there's a reason 6-pointers are the most likely to make it to old age - hunter high-grading. I see it on clubs all the time.

That's exactly what happened with these 2.

 

[TheLBLman]

That's very interesting Rockhound.

And there's a reason 6-pointers are the most likely to make it to old age - hunter high-grading. I see it on clubs all the time.

Not just on "clubs", but statewide on both private & public properties.