Help me out!

[Shed Hunter]

Here are three bucks I got on camera over the years. They are all on the same property. I can't age in the summer to save my life so I thought I'd get help from you guys. I'm just trying to compare them to some pics I have for aging purposes. Their antlers mean nothing to age so I blacked them out.

 

[TheLBLman]

I can't age in the summer to save my life . . . .

Nor can anyone else, accurately.

More pics with more angles could help with the guesses, but just based on those single pics of each deer . . . . .

The first two (from the top) do not appear mature. My take is they could be anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 1/2.

The last one appears older than the first two. My take is he could be anywhere from 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 (or even older).

 

[TheLBLman]

Very fat, well-fed healthy deer can sometimes look older.
Very skinny, poorly-fed deer can sometimes look older.
Aging bucks by body profile works best during the pre-rut thru rut period (around Oct 15 thru Dec 1st for much of TN, a little later for some areas).

 

[Nealmeally]

Top deer is at least 3.5
Middle deer is 1.5-2.5
Bottom deer is oldest. I'd say he is 4.5+

Very hard to tell in summer months... I still like to guess though.. Like I said just my guesses..

 

[Nealmeally]

Very fat, well-fed healthy deer can sometimes look older.
Very skinny, poorly-fed deer can sometimes look older.
Aging bucks by body profile works best during the pre-rut thru rut period (around Oct 15 thru Dec 1st for much of TN, a little later for some areas).

This may be hard to understand and it is hard to explain. And it may be very far from correct. But I try to picture the deer when he does fill out in the rut phase.. I try to look at body features such as bone structure. I like to look at neck and chest areas that will fill out during rut. I have seen several bucks that I know were mature deer during summer months. They just look like something was missing in their body features. This is due to them slimming down during the summer.

I guess what I'm trying to say is an older buck (4.5+), looks a little more saggy and hide seems to look looser. I like to ask myself, is the body features there? Is there room for neck swell? Does he have the deep chest that will fill out in a couple months? The bottom pic is a good example. That deer looks like there is plenty of loose hide in neck area that will blow up come rut. He just don't look right with those big shoulders and small neck.. Younger bucks seem to have a tighter hide during the summer. I've also noticed some older bucks usually have a larger lower hanging belly also.

Again, this may be very far off from accurate. But I've seemed to notice this over the years running cameras throughout the summer and studying pics of deer that I know are mature and comparing them to other age classes.

 

[TN Whitetail Freak]

Ima guess
2
1
4
Respectively

 

[Andy S.]

Nor can anyone else, accurately.

X2

 

[TheLBLman]

When there is only a single pic of a particular buck, we can more often be mislead. Sometimes the deer is in a particular position (such as partially squatting), or we're only seeing certain angles which may accentuate the appearance of particular body features that might not appear if could see multiple pics of that same deer.

 

[in the dog house]

If I had to guess and that's all it is ........

2
3
4+

 

[RiverBuck10]

Top deer is at least 3.5
Middle deer is 1.5-2.5
Bottom deer is oldest. I'd say he is 4.5+

Very hard to tell in summer months... I still like to guess though.. Like I said just my guesses..

X2

 

[Shed Hunter]

This was actually posted to show how hard it is to guess in the summer. I knew there would be some very smart people comment and be completely wrong! However, I'm glad to see what I expected.. TNdeer knows the importance of summer guesses. It drives me crazy to see a deer guessed in confidence during the summer. Why, I don't know, but it aggravates me.

I do not know the answer to my question, but deer one is the youngest. Deer two the oldest, and deer three directly in between. It is the same deer. Top pic 2010 then 2012, and last is 2011.

 

[McCoy]

Haha that was a good one! Lets see them uncensored!

 

[CAW]

Good post MC.

 

[Shed Hunter]

Haha that was a good one! Lets see them uncensored!

I know it is the same deer by cuts in his ears. His antler formation also stated the same despite having a really weird right side in 2010

 

[catman529]

3.5, 3.5, 5.5 are my guesses. The first two might be 2.5 but seem to be a bit deep chested. The last one is at least 4.5 and I would guess probably older.

 

[catman529]

This was actually posted to show how hard it is to guess in the summer. I knew there would be some very smart people comment and be completely wrong! However, I'm glad to see what I expected.. TNdeer knows the importance of summer guesses. It drives me crazy to see a deer guessed in confidence during the summer. Why, I don't know, but it aggravates me.

I do not know the answer to my question, but deer one is the youngest. Deer two the oldest, and deer three directly in between. It is the same deer. Top pic 2010 then 2012, and last is 2011.

ha, that doesn't just show that summer aging is nearly impossible, but also camera angles and posture of the deer can play with things quite a bit

 

[stryker]

Funny..