Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

What are your racks like In your woods? Wide, tall, narrow?? The mature bucks In the woods I hunt generally were wide 18" to 20" 10 pointers with decent tine length up until the last 2 years or so. The buck I got last year was not a common rack for the area. Mine was tall and had ok width (17" spread). The last 2 years I've gotten more trail cam pics of bucks like the one I got last year. Like Greg said In his thread the 8 point rack Is starting to take over some, same thing going on here In my woods.

Here Is what the normal mature buck would generally look like up until the last 2 years (10 point).





Here's the new 8 point look I've been seeing In the trail cam pics the last 2 years. The 1st picture Is the buck I shot last year. Look how some of the other pics from this year and last year follow his same design.








Big difference In the 2 rack styles. I'm sure the 10 point look Isn't completely gone but the new 8 point look Is showing up more.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread.
 

The farms I hunt in southeast Missouri, most of the bucks I see are pretty wide. Up in Northern MO where I hunt, I see a lot more mass, and taller racks.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

I believe this guy is 2.5, as his face is longer than a 1 1/2.
I would guess his dressed weight @ 130'ish lbs.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

These are some racks from some local deer here I've taken over the last three seasons.

I shot this 3.5yr old in '06......andhe scored 106-4/8"



I shot this buck in '07.....and he's a 4.5yr old that scored 103-1/8" as a 200# buck.



I shot this buck on Halloween (I'm almost certain he's the buck I shot....but the recovery, honestly, was made, today....as I scouted an area I had not been into this season, at all. I have no idea on his age....as I haven't had him aged, yet.....but he rough-scored 105-1/8".



I took this 6-pointer on Friday 11/28 (two days ago). Again....I'm not certain on his age......but he scored (approx......as I'm awaiting a "ruling" on how to score him) 96-6/8". I'll let you know what his age is approximated at when we jawbone age him, this week.



In over 200 sits .....spanning the better part of 4 seasons.....I've seen (now) 4 bucks that would score over 100" from stand.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

For my woods Steve, one of the traits that is common is the split brow tine. Some even get some extra junk on them:

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

In the woods I used to hunt, until it got subdivided, almost everything I saw or shot was an 8 pointer. In the woods where I mostly hunt now they could be anything. There are a lot of odd point bucks.....7,9 and 11 points. However, the majority are 8 pointers. In the last 6 years I've taken 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 pointers. I kind of like that, it's like Christmas, you never know what you'll get!

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

For some reason at our cabin here in WI they tend to have really short brows. ;)

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

north farm= tall and tight racked with main beams coming back together and almost touching with giant browtines

south farm= wide and tall with short brow tines or Super Tall but only 14-15 inches wide with short brows

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

House= Around 15-18 inches wide and no height or really tall and massive, but no wider than 15 or so inches.
Other farm= Tall and massive, split brows, really tall brows, or no brows at all what so ever.
I have come to the conclusion that swamp deer have the taller, more massive racks, and field deer have the wider racks. Reason being, its easier to move through a swamp when your tall and skinny. :D

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

I seem to be getting a lot of 10 pointers on camera. And a few of them have the crab claws out front. Both traits are cool with me, not complaining.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

Actually, the vast majority of bucks 3.5 years old and older around here are 8s or 9s. There are some 10 point typicals, but the air gets really thin beyond that. Beyond 4.5 these deer tend to get a lot of cool trash on their racks. I have see dozens and dozens of mature bucks over the years but have seen only two 11 point typicals and one 12 (incidentally all three grossed or would gross b&c).

I should add we get all types of racks but anything with a 20" or greater spread is about as common as a typical 12.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

The farm that I mainly hunt you can count on seeing 3 1/2 deer with an 8pt. rack with short brows that will go in the 130's" due to good mass and great inside spread. There have been exceptions but this is mainly the case. In hunting this farm for the last 9 years I have still yet to see a buck that had over 4" brows.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

That's unbelievable!!

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

LMAO!! Holy **** Dan them are some long G1's!!

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

Believe it Shultzy! I had a buck on this farm when he was 3 1/2 he was a great 8pt. with long tines and good mass and had maybe 1" brows. The next year he G-2s were 13-14" and he didn't grow brow tines at all that year. Looked like a mule deer. I've taken 3 P&Y out of that woods and the longest brow tine on any of those three is 3 6/8 ".

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

It's crazy how each area has It's own characteristics, kind of why I made this thread to see what everyone elses were. That's a strong characteristic In your area no doubt!! G1's are a big part of the score also.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

8 pts are still very common here. 20" inside spread is wide here. Mature bucks are usually in the 16 - 18 "range. 3- 4 inch brows are common. 8 - 10 inch G2 and G3 is very good.

These two bucks are big for my area...

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

2nd buck...

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

I'd say them are big anywhere Tim!! Very nice.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

What would a buck like this score TJ?

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

And a great thread it is! It took me about 3 years of seeing mature bucks to realize I had a major genetics problem as far as brow tines go. Rest of the rack you couldn't ask for better genes. Tall, wide and very massive. I have a 4 1/2 8pt. that nets 139" and some change and only 7" of that is G-1 score. I shot a 3 1/2 out of there in '02 that scored 151 3/8" as a 10pt. His brow tines were only 3" a piece. But, he had great tine lenth a 21" inside spread on both main beams are over 23". This is a very good thread indeed!

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

it seems in my immediate area, bucks allowed to reach full maturity usually make it to the perfect typical 10 stage. tall tined, wide, heavy horned monarchs. There are some that never make it past an 8 too though. I have seen some absolute pigs in the area, just never had one within bowrange. Last year was a complete bust, the deer just weren't in there like years past...but they were back this year. Next year should be the best yet.;)

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

I shot 2 bucks in Minn. that are almost exactly the same right down to the start of a fifth point on both right sides. These deer were shot about 4-5 miles apart. I wondered if they were poss. brothers.
I bow hunted a place in Wis. where the bucks had much longer then normal brow tines.
I firmly believe thatdifferent areas have different genetic traits.
Some of these could be due to the type of area they live in such as dense thick woods would suit bucks with narrow spreads and shorter tines.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

145 - 150"9 pt

2nd buck is 160 1/8" ;):D

Tim

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

Hey Tim, that buck looks familiar! Did you push pause and then take the picture? :D

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

where i hunt we have two distinct characteristics. One they usually bladed brow tines, and two they usually have a strong side meaning one side of the rack is always taller. Almost every buck is that way.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b224/crenshawjohnson/brian.jpg

deer up close is perfect example, he has bladed brows and the right side is bigger then left.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

There absolutely are common 'styles/shapes' of racks. Around here I don't know of any real theme, I've seen a lot of different shapes.

There was about a 4 year run a short while back, where I, guys in my group, and some neighbors that I'd talk to in maybe a 3-4 sq. mile area, were killing a lot of bucks with kickers on the G2's. I killed several with kickers on both G2's as well.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

It seems like all I see around here are basket racked 6pts.[:@]

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

Our bucks are usually typical 8pts. We've only ever takenthree 9's, and never a 10 - in over 20yrs on the same farm. We have alot of bucks that either don't have brows....or only one. This year ironically, we tookfour8pts, and all had both brows. Go figure. Widest one we ever took has been 18", haven't seen many much wider than that.

Edit: I should say....our good 2.5, and our 3.5 and up bucks are typical 8pts. Most of our 1.5's and alot of 2.5's are spikes and forks, with the occassional nicer one showing up.

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

bucks in my region are generally 15-18inches wide and have relatively short brow times, there are occasional high racked deer seen but I haven't gotten one yet

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

The bucks around my area tend to be of modest spreads (my widest inside spread is 16 5/8) with beams that come around on the ends.

Also, the bucks tend to grow more than eight points by the age of 3 1/2 in most cases and many will grow kickers and stickers. I have actually never shot an 8 pointer on my parents farm but have passed on some that were 2 1/2 year olds.

Here are my top three bucks (10,12, and 11 point)

RE: Rack characteristics, A spin off of Gregs thread
 

I believe this to be true as well.