Please age this buck

[Truedouble]

I have several other pictures of this buck from back in September. His belly doesn't appear to be as big now but I assume that's due to the rut. I aged him at 3 1/2 based on the Sept. pics and I would say he looks every bit of 3 1/2 in this picture. He has less than stellar antlers for a mature buck but he was on our "hit list" because from trial cam pics he appeared to be mature and not one to ever really be a high scoring deer. I shot him Saturday morning and although he had a big neck and all of the physical characteristics of a mature buck he only weighted 140. I hunt in a mountainous region of NE Alabama and we seem to have a lot more 150-175 pound bucks than 175-200 although between us and our neighbors we have killed several in the 200 pound range. I would assume this is because mountain deer are better off having light frames than heavy, but don't know. I have not looked at the jawbone yet but the weight of this buck made me second guess his age. I know weight is not the determining factor when aging a buck but I would have thought he would have weighed more.

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

i would say 3.5

 

[pass-thru]

at least 3.5

 

[BSK]

at least 3.5

Agree.

 

[Mike Belt]

Weights are a puzzling factor. I've seen a bunch of 1.5-2.5 year old deer out weigh 4.5 year old deer by as much as 16-17% and they all came from the same place and sometimes from the same family group.

 

[BSK]

Weights are a puzzling factor. I've seen a bunch of 1.5-2.5 year old deer out weigh 4.5 year old deer by as much as 16-17% and they all came from the same place and sometimes from the same family group.

Individuals of the same age can display massive differences in body weight and antler production. We've killed 4 1/2 year-old bucks on my place that ranged from 230 lbs to 162 lbs, and with antler scores ranging from 156 to 71.

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

3.5