Broncazonk

There are regional differences, but male whitetail deer will usually look like this in the fall:

.5 y.o. Fawn - He's still with his mother with no visible antler, (In human terms: toddler)

1.5 y.o. Yearling - He has recently been rejected by his mother, small antlers, usually a spike, or with a few extremely small points around an inch or so long, (In human terms: 4th-grader)

2.5 y.o. Still very small-bodied with little muscle mass, small antlers with 4to 8 points, the points are usually 3" to 7" long and the main beams are thin. (I think the 1.5 y.o. deer you are seeing are actually 2.5 y.o.) (In human terms: 7th-grader)

3.5 y.o. A very lean, fit, athletic-looking deer with a razor tight belly. He will have small hind quarters and a average swollen sized neck. WT deer make an antler size jump at 3.5. His antlers may have adult length to them, but the mass won't be there. The largest 3.5 y.o. I ever killed was a 164" gross ten-point with no mass. Remember, the World Record is a 3.5 y.o. buck, but he's a Canadian buck. If he survives the winter, he will finally be accepted into a cohort of older bucks and learn something. (In human terms: 11th-grader.)

4.5 y.o. A bigger-bodied buck that's thicker all around, bigger neck, chest, shoulders and hind-quarters. His antlers will have more mass to them, a little more length. He's spent the last 6 months in an older buck cohort so he is waaay smarter than a 3.5 y.o. buck. (In human terms: 25-year old with a very high IQ.)

5.5 y.o. He's finally mature. He's thicker all around and he's built like a tank. His belly has the slightest hint of a sag and his ass end looks like a mule. His antlers will be heavier again because his pedicles won't stop growing for a few years yet. (In human terms: 35-year old with a genius IQ.)

6.5 y.o. to 8.5 y.o. He's a toad, the biggest bodied deer you have ever seen on the hoof. (In human terms: 40 to 50 years old and he's Einstein.)

Now here's the deal. Not all bucks will grow large antlers. Here are pictures of a 8.5 y.o. buck that is built like a tank, but his antlers will not gross over 140. He's still very dominant because of his body size. See how thick and heavy he looks everywhere? See that ass and belly? Now compare that to this 2.5 y.o. buck. See how small his body is?

You usually have to look at a deer's body to age them--above a 3.5 anyway. You never look at a mature buck's antlers to age them, there is too much variability to it. And number of points is: an age, genetics, food and health question, but by 3.5 most bucks have it figured it out as to how many points they will have. Some eight-point deer will be an eight one year and a nine the next and some tens will be a nine one year and an eleven the next.

Bronc