Help me age this buck
 

Trying to judge this bucks age to determin potential growth in years to come. Usually not too tough but this one makes me go back and forth. It's a Kansas deer.




Thanks, Matthew

RE: Help me age this buck
 

That's a good 2 1/2 year old buck.

RE: Help me age this buck
 

And how about these 2 (harder to judge with only one shot angle). So we have the above deer, no. 1, then this one, #2
and this one, #3

RE: Help me age this buck
 

Look like 2 1/2 year olds to me also. Nice looking kansas bucks. What part of Kansas are ya from?

RE: Help me age this buck
 

The pictures are from Geary and Dickinson Counties in the NC part of the state.

Matthew

RE: Help me age this buck
 

I would actually think they are closer to 4 years old because of the loose skin at the bottom of the neck.

RE: Help me age this buck
 

I still think the top 2 bucks are both 2 1/2 year olds. They don't have the roman nose that a older buck develops like the buck in the last picture. There body doesn't look like a mature buck either. They lack in size yet. I havea hard time judgeing bucks who are over 4 1/2 years of age. Look at the scar's on that 10 points muzzle. He's been in a fight or two. He's also got that roman nose of a older buck. I betchya he's got a sway back and a sag'n belly. At least 4 1/2 years old, a shooter!

RE: Help me age this buck
 

1st 4 1/2 yr
2nd 3 yr
3rd 3yr
i agree with vogt_51 & chiefks, nice bucks. thanks for sharing.

RE: Help me age this buck
 

The top buck looks quite young,probably 2-1/2 years old,the middle one,perhaps 3-1/2,with the bottom buck possibly even 4-1/2.

RE: Help me age this buck
 

Aging questions like this are tough, especially when you're in a national forum, where everybody's deer look a little different. If those bucks were in western MT, the top two are 3 1/2 and the bottom one is 4 1/2. I'd give those estimates with 90% certainty. That said, I don't know much about KS bucks, since we moved away from there when I was 12.

You've got some good looking tracking soils in those pictures, so let me make anoff-the-wallsuggestion. Measure the tracks. Don't guesstimate, get a ruler and measure their width right down to the 16th of an inch. (You could also take length, but I've always chosen width. Be sure to measure only unsplayed tracks.) Measure enough tracks and you'll start to see the sense in it. Lots of people will object that this won't work, but I've been doing it in my deer areas for a few years now. I have yet to see the "doe with huge feet" or the "big buck with little feet" or any of the other objections people raise. In my area a 2 1/2 y.o. buck will go 2" wide, a 3 1/2 y.o. 2 1/4" wide, and 4 1/2 y.o. about 2 3/8" wide. (These will vary by +/- 1/8", so past 3 1/2 years oldthe measures may start to overlap. The biggest doe I ever measured was 2 1/8".)The widest track I have ever seen was 2 5/8" wide - this in an area where bucks do occasionally die of old age and 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 y.o. animals are to be seen.