I was just thinking and wondering about when do you decide that some bucks just don,t have what it takes to become a true trophy.I mean if you where trying to produce trophy bucks at what age would you say that it is time to cull a particular buck? If you have been watching the progress of a particular buck and he is now a 5.5 yr old,but would only score 130-140 would you take him out of the herd now or give him another year.I would consider a 140 class buck a trophy for here,but for the sake of arguement you want the 160-and up class what would you do about the buck I described above and how long do you think it would take to produce that elusive 160.Just want to get you guys thoughts on the subject.You all know the type of buck I'm speaking of it's the ones that cost the big dollars.{nthing wrong with that of course}

In my experience, if a buck isnt in at least the 140" to 150" class by the age of 4.5 then most likely he will never be a true giant. I dont use the word trophy because a trophy is in the eye of the beholder.Ive had deer pushing 130" as 2.5 year olds, and on the other hand I have harvested two deer that were fully mature that field dressed over 250lbs but only scored in the 130"s. If your managing your land so well that your considering culling 130" deer then my hats off to you, because alot of people would be just tickled to shoot a deer of that caliber.

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We manage our ranch pretty hard....We dont shoot deer that are sub 4.5 year olds of. howeverwe justacquired this ranch three years ago. We are seeing 3 1/2 year old bucks that are in the 135-140 range. I have really been reading some management materials on this subject and I am at the conclusion that there really is no such thing as a management buck until they reach 5.5 years old. So at this point I would say a 5.5 year old that has not reached the buck that you are looking to produce would be the buck that needs culling. As I have recently found out and learned a fawn gets the majority of their genes from the doe, killing a inferior buck would not necessarily rid your herd of that trait....This isa tough subject to try and answer as there are so many variables that play into it.....Just the same I would not cull a buck that was less than 5.5 years old regardless of his antlers.....

Passthrough I agree with all you have said, I was just wanting to hear the opinions on the subject of those on these forums,and for the record I don't manage my herd well enough to cull 130" class deer,in fact a 130 up in my area is considered a trophy,I was curious as to what everyone here thought that at what age should a buck be scoring over 140,if one was inclined to try and grow only big bucks.

When a buck looks like it has candle wax on its head I usually make the call that its a no go...I may be wrong....just my opinion.....I shot a 2.5 year old buck that was all messed up...bad horns...no spread..and candle wax.....

I wonder if this was just a bad gene...chemicals...some accident...or just a doe that got bread by a small buck....these are my thoughts...

Very well said DropTine.. excellent info.

After 4 years of really hard work on my own place, I have come to the conclusion that unless your hunting high fence, or have exclusive/total management control over 1000+ continuous acres the whole "cull" theory doesn't hold a lot of water when the rubber hits the road.

In my opinion your best bet to help you take better deer more often is to improve your habitat, let your bucks get older, and do what you can to keep your 1.5+ y/o buck to doe ratio (fawns out of the mix) as close to 1/1 as possible.

X2.The reality of it is nonexist in most oftodays hunting world.Most states just play the numbers game and careless about trophy quality.

every study I've read seems to say most of the breeding is done by younger bucks.....even 1.5-3.5yr olds, its not the old, 5.5-7.5, with that in mind......culling a buck once he hits 5.5 say, he has already bred many does....

but then I dont htink its very easy to cull a buck thats young.....I think if you see consistent characteristics that are unwanted.....from one year to another while he's still young could help this....

an old deer in our area is anything 3.5 or older....even 2.5 aren't common, lots of 1.5, in our area a 3.5yo can be a monster!