ORIGINAL: Schultzy
ORIGINAL: dukemichaels
I don't even understand some of the answer's. The whitetail biologists have said time and time again that a whitetail reaches maturity at 3.5 yrs.
I understand that many of us like to pass on them and give them at least 1 more season. But facts are that a whitetail will reach maturity at 3.5 yrs... science says this.
There is no "in my woods"... or "where I hunt".. a 3.5 yr. old is a mture animal. Will he put on more pounds, muscle and inches as he/she gets older.. yes he/she will.
A whitetail will reach maturity at 3.5 yrs. period.
I don't understand all the "I thinks".....
Do you have any other reasons to believe a buck is mature at 3.5 besides what a biologist thinks? Some of these same scientist can't judge a tooth on age. The DNR biologist headquarters in Minnesota gets our bear teeth every year and they send us a management patch back along with the age of our bear. Many times these people have been way off from the actual age. For example my biggest bear was 325lbs dressed with a 20 5/16 inch skull. They told me he was a 4.5 year old bear, yeah right! That bear was all of 12 years old minimum! Another one weighed 150 lbs, they told me he was 1/2 years old, thats a cub for crying out loud! That bear was 3.5 to 4.5! These scientist or biologist don't cut it with me on the aging of any animals so why should I consider they know what Is mature or not! Really what is mature? Breeding wise? A buck can breed at 1.5 years old, thats pretty mature if you ask me. I'll stick to my 4.5 as being mature but I'm not going to say your wrong as believing 3.5 is mature, you may be right and you have good reasons for it as I do with mine. When it comes right down to it most dedicated hunters got a heck of allot more good info on the animals we've been hunting for years and know whats going on then some of these guys sitting in there labs thinking all day.
Button bucks can breed. I supposein a sense he is amature buck!! [&:]
I would have thought the biologists would havewentby skeletal growth for determining maturity. At 4.5 theskeletal frame workof a buck is still growing but finallyslowing down. Not at 3.5 years old.
Usually a buck has it largest rack between 5.5 -6.5 years old whilein his prime.
I wonder where they get a 3.5 as being a mature buck. You are usually just getting to see what his potential might be.
Tim