Seems opinion varies even on what we read on the species. I posted that, just the other night I watched that special that has been running for years about the Whitetail Deer on The Discovery Channel and I remember hearing them say 20 years.
Here I did a search on yahoo:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Whitetail+Deer+Lifespan&ei=UTF-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US
fficial&fr=moz2
The opinion varies to a maximum life span of 20 years to a lifespan of 13-15 years, to 18 years to zoo to wild etc.... I wonder what the hard facts are and perhaps there isn't any hard facts.
I'll concur and say 13-15 years with a max of 20 years, why not..lol
With that, think about how many if not all of us and all the treestand hours jointly, gun hunts, people we know, etc...etc..think about the vastness of all those numbers accumulated, how many know of a deer ever taken by a hunter over 10 years old? Imagine....