mufan

If a deer has bad genetics but lives for a long time does he end up with a "big" ugly rack or does his rack only get so big no matter how long he lives?

andrewjoseph

I shot two bucks this season which had very unimpressive racks just because I was going to lose the tags. Both of them wieghed in at almost three hundred pounds. My buddy and I were able to decide that one was 5 or 6 and one was 4 or five.

It must be genetics because such big bodied deer with some 4 - 6 years on them had some of the worst racks I have ever seen. They were definetly sasuage and jerky bucks.

JNTURK

genetics play somewhat of a role, but there are other factors...if he has bad or good genetics and he lives a long time most deer go through a peek of rack size then the rack will get smaller with age..

Ol JohnnyBoy

I've been told that most bucks reach their "peak" at arount 4-5 years of age. After that they'll probably taper off and then start to decline, size wise

Jimmy S

In order for a buck to have a big rack, he needs three things:
Good genetics
Long life
Good food source

Take any one of those out of the equation and he loses that chance.

rybohunter

Depends on what you consider big for a buck to top out at. Given he best food and long life are all bucks going to hit 180-200" no. BUt I think a good bit would hit 130-140. Maybe a few with crappy rack despite being old. Given decent food, and time to get 4.5 years old I think most bucks would get to be considered "big" in most parts of the country.

Red Lion

It really depends on what part of North America that you are hunting. It is not uncommon to regularly find bucks in Canada going 300-350. I hunt central Minnesota and north central Minnesota. Central Minnesota bucks can regularly field dress out 180-200. North central they seem to more regularly be around 2 bills or larger. Quality of rack is very much dependent on genetics, food and habitat though.

Tbone1187

I hurd that deer peek at 10 years old but most people think 4 or 5

TEmbry

same here.

health wise the deer peak at 4 or 5 but rack wise, ive heard and read it just keeps growing despite popular belief. ive heard that up until 8 9 or 10 years of age the rack will keep growing or stay around the same, around 10 or 11 years is where it drops off. just what i read seeing as how ive never done a 12 year study project with multiple bucks.

sjsfire

I think diet has a lot to do with it too......