Help me age this buck
#7
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 568
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!
#10
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 590
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.
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.