Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

I took this buck with a gun over thanksgiving weekend in MD, but I posted it in the archery forum because even though I hunt with guns as well as archery, archery hunters as a whole areoften a bit more knowledgeable. I am curious as to what you might think the age of this deer is, especially within the context of the recent post of what percentage of deer die natural deaths. The area where I was hunting is bordered by very lightly hunted public land. (only opened to the public two years ago and like I said, very few hunt there.) We own an adjoining hundred acres or so, which includes some nasty and impassable swamps. The other side is bordered by a large river. This is the largest bodied deer we have taken out of this area in recent years. I am trying to decide whether he was simply a young, large deer that formed poor antlers due to perhaps a sickness in the spring or something, or if he was an older deer past his prime. He was very rutted up, and had battle wounds on his chest from antler gouges. His long and somewhat handsome looking face, as well as the outward angle of his rack leads me to believe he is old. However, I guess I just have a hard time believing he could really have lived so long. For comparison, the other deer in the second picture had a much smaller body, and his rack had a very upward angle, so I think he was a young deer.






like i said, I was just curious... thanks for the guesses... and sorry I couldn't figure out how to rotate the first picture...

Jon

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

Nice deer, I would say 1.5 for both.

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

chances are they're both 1.5 but that may be a year younger. I'm haven't seen many deer from the northeast part of the country, so I could be slightly off. But my bets would fall on 1.5

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

Yeah, I agree. Young deer, 1.5 y/o. Congratulations!!!;)

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

20 and 57 [8D]

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

1.5 no older than 2.5, I'd have to see some teeth to know for sure though. Antlers and body size and appearance can fool you.

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

1.5 on both. Nice deer.

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

I think...

2.5 on left and 1.5 on right.

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

IN BETWEEN 1-2YRS OLD
MY GUESS.

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

they are yearling bucks. 18 months old.

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

thedeeron the left isexactly 1 year, 6 months, 8 days, 13 hours, 10 minutes and 21 1/2 second old before you shot it.

and the one to the left is 1 year, 7 months, 5 days, 12 hours 42 minutes and 21.333333 repeating seconds old before you shot it.

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

Thats 2 lefts. Is that possible?

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

Only in New York!! Left is the norm[8D]

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

"Thats 2 lefts. Is that possible? "


of course its possible, if you keep going left, eventually you will go around the world and hit the one on the right, whatd you think i meant... DUH!

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

I would also have to say 1.5 years. If I can't see the teeth, alot of times I look at the color of the head. It seems the older deer start turning a lighter/grayer color. And his head is still pretty dark.

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

He looks2 1/2 save the lower jaw and boil and clean it ,post photos.Then you will know.He could be 3 1/2 .

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

1.5 years for sure

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

Thanks for the comebacks guys. Everyone almost universally supported what I thought must be true. Just seemed strange to me the way the angle of his rack and his face was much different from the obviously young deer... and they were shot only a few hundred yards apart. thanks for the positive congratulations and replies, I appreciate it.

Jon

RE: Could anyone help me with an age guess?
 

Agree with the majority, two examples of 1.5 year olds.