i never try to tell how old a deer is and i could care less,if he has enough antler to suit me i'll kill him. this age thing has been brought on by stupid tv shows,those people know how old there deer are ,cause they raised them like dogs. i had a guy tell me once that hunted a high fence ranch and killed a big buck . the owner gave him a piece of paper the next day,he said this is your deer's birth certificate. it had his name on it. i've had a few bioligist laugh at those guys aging bucks the way they do on tv,there are alot of varibles as to how a bucks body will look at a certian age. i'm a horn hunter mostly,not to say i won't kill one for meat . i'd rather kill a monster 4 yr old then never see him again at 6. where i live along the shenandoah national park we will always have some very old mature deer that show up. with thousands of acres of mtn that will never by hunted , i don't worry about it.