He has a big, rutty neck in those pictures, but his body doesn't look that big for a mature deer up north. His face looks old even two years ago, so it was obviously his time to go.

The whitetail in those pics are easily 6.5 to 7.5 years old. So if in fact it is the same deer that would make it 8.5 to 9.5. I do have to admit though that it's back wasn't swayed hardly at all which signifies that it was in pretty good shape at the time of those pics. But Topper is right that he was quite a bit on the light side weight wise. Teeth were probably already shot even then.

Yes I would agree that is likely the same deer and likely very old. Past his prime even in the live pictures.

I would say your 9 1/2 guess is pretty accurate.

It's hard to tell without seeing the deer in person but I did notice that the pics from 2 years ago, the bucks main beam tips don't curl in. The deer you found dead, his tips curl in quite a bit. But with 2 years of growth, it could of changed. Just something I noticed.

Like Topgun said.
 

We don't see old Bucks like that too often, and the few I've seen have been aged at over ten years. Between hunters, poachers, wolves and coyotes these guys are pretty rare.

So my guess is that he was a fine old buck who had a good run at life. May your progeny hunt his for many generations.

ATB

if you really want to know the true age, you need to send the two front incisors to a lab for cementum annuli test. Wildlife Analytical Labs in TX does it for only $25. Then you'd know definitely