Honestly, I wouldn't know where to begin if I couldn't actually see the small buttons. Impossible for me, especially if the deer is standing 25-50 yds away.

What should I look for? Head shape, neck size, shoulders?
Is there any method that can (almost) guarantee the difference?

Thanks in advance. [/align]

First off...Get a good pair of binoculars, we all pay good bucks for a scope but you will spend more time looking through your binoculars than a scope...

Button bucks often come in by themselves, the doe pushes them away during the rut, so make sure you pay special attention to lone deer...After that notice the tail and the head, the nose seems short and the tail seems long for the body size...

NC - I understand about the lone deer. Yet,Just a couple years ago, Oct 31st (NH M/L) and I had 4 antlerless deer in front of my treestand. Two were fairly large (about 100 pounds) and 2 smaller. I decided to take one of the 2 larger deer if they offered a clean shot. One did at 20 yds and after walking up to it, I discovered it was not a doe. It was a button buck but he looked exactly like the other larger deer. Maybe that was a button buck too.

I am more interested in physical features and thanks for the input on the nose and tail.

We have 5" above the hairline here in FL.....Like someone mentioned, Bino's is a must!

What does 5" have to do with a button buck?

In FL we can't shoot Buttons.........The spike has to be 5" above the hairline....

I allways carry binoculars and use them to identify one from the other.when there running by though its tough to see what they are.

I'm not talking about spikes. How do you know that button buck isn't a doe?

The only sure way is to look for buttons. Can’t get much more straight forward than that.

That has been my opinion. Thank you!