No doubt that some 1.5 year old bucks have more than spikes. If they are born early and have good habitat and brows, you can even see some 6 and 8 pointers in this age class. I have found sheds from an 8pt year and a half old. This is the exception and not the rule though.

Some stats from VT Fish & Wildlife. The VT buck harvest consists of an average of 60% 1.5 year old bucks over the past two years. Of these young bucks, they averaged 2.9 points and weighed 114 pounds. I think the current rule will allow more young bucks to get into the next age class than you might think.

ORIGINAL: Rob in VT

PA Gobbler,

I agree with you, but how many hunters can really age a deer on the hoof? I would say not many. As you stated, this is a start which can be tweeked each year as needed. If you think about it, an ethical hunter won't be able to see that 3rd point which is an inch long unless the deer if right on top of him. I feel that many legal bucks will walk because hunters can't positively identify the 2 points on one side. With a 2.5 year old, there shouldn't be any question whether it's legal or not.

Last year you could take 3 bucks in VT. Really, the number of second and third bucks taken by a single hunter is so insignificant that it isn't going to make much of a difference.

. . . Rob

Still, let's look at a hypothetical situation on an average of 2.9 points. Let's say there are 100 1.5 year old bucks. A third have 2 pts, a third have 3 pts, and a third have 4 pts. This averages to 2.99 points per deer (a little higher than our true average), but I think these are reasonable assumptions. Let's assume that all the 2 pointers survive (33 deer). Let's also assume that half of our 3 pointers survive due to hunters not being sure if that third point is an inch or not (16 deer). Finally let's assume that 5% of our 4 pointers survive (2 deer). If you add it all up that's 51 deer out of 100 that would survive - or 51%. I'll take that success rate any day.