How old are are small deer?
This weekend I shot a small button buck with my bow (thought it was a doe) and it weighed about 80ish pounds... We were having a debate over how old it was. I said it was 6 months old because it was fairly small and had one inch tall spikes, others were saying 1.5... The thing that confuses me is the area we hunt, this size deer is usually the smallest i see, and when their with mature does they are that size and not any smaller, but someone i know recently shot one that was the size of a dog, really small.
If deer are born around 6 months before hunting season, why are some really small come hunting season. Would you say this deer was 6 months old or 1.5? I see larger sized spikes in the same area that look about 30 lbs heavier, and have 3-8" spikes, are they the same age, just with better genetics? ( I hunt southern upstate NY by the way)
Im just really confused at how old these deer that are 1.5 years of age or younger really are. I attached the pic of the one I got below.
Last edited by ABarOfSoap; 10-03-2012 at 03:29 PM.