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megalomaniac

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Got this buck on cam last week. Looks to have shed one side. How old is he??,
5e4efbc9dde82309d857feb7c3e80242.jpg


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It's must be the head being in a down position that is giving me trouble but I'm stuck between calling him a 2.5yo and a part of me says he looks like a hunched up, arthritic old man lol...if he is 2.5 he is already working with 4"+ bases...what are your thoughts on his age?


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With that mass and dark hock stains, I would guess 3.5. He's really depleted his body mass and obviously has been rutting hard too.
 
I know how old he is..... I'm just messing with you guys.... I'll put more pics of him up later with the answer :)

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tree_ghost":2fimkvms said:
It's must be the head being in a down position that is giving me trouble but I'm stuck between calling him a 2.5yo and a part of me says he looks like a hunched up, arthritic old man lol...if he is 2.5 he is already working with 4"+ bases...what are your thoughts on his age?


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Click to expand...

After looking at him more I'd like to change my answer. If I cover up the back half of the deer I see a short snout in relation to overall head size, mass of 4"+ based on eyeball circumference, and a deep brisket and high shoulder. If you now cover up the front of the deer and look at the back I see a small underdeveloped hind quarter and skinny belly. My guess is it's a old deer with some type of medical condition causing atrophy in the hind end of the deer.?


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He's actually 5.5 this year... he's lost a LOT of weight, perhaps too much to recover from. I suspect the typical wt loss from the rut, then some type of injury or illness compounding the poor body condition. He's the first buck to shed, all the others are still carrying antlers and look healthy. No adult wanted to shoot him this year as their buck of choice, and he didn't cooperate and come out for the kids. I may put him on the cull list next year if he makes it.

This pic is from the end of summer. His neck hasn't filled out yet, but he was well over 200 lbs at that time.


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megalomaniac":4yb7i6jt said:
He's actually 5.5 this year... he's lost a LOT of weight, perhaps too much to recover from. I suspect the typical wt loss from the rut, then some type of injury or illness compounding the poor body condition. He's the first buck to shed, all the others are still carrying antlers and look healthy. No adult wanted to shoot him this year as their buck of choice, and he didn't cooperate and come out for the kids. I may put him on the cull list next year if he makes it.

This pic is from the end of summer. His neck hasn't filled out yet, but he was well over 200 lbs at that time.


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megalomaniac":2qknmcfs said:
He's actually 5.5 this year... he's lost a LOT of weight, perhaps too much to recover from. I suspect the typical wt loss from the rut, then some type of injury or illness compounding the poor body condition. He's the first buck to shed, all the others are still carrying antlers and look healthy. No adult wanted to shoot him this year as their buck of choice, and he didn't cooperate and come out for the kids. I may put him on the cull list next year if he makes it.

This pic is from the end of summer. His neck hasn't filled out yet, but he was well over 200 lbs at that time.


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I think he has closer to 5in bases than 4... but loses mass pretty fast up the beams and has short tines

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Wow...I never would of believed it. He doesn't even look like the same deer. Do you have any other pics of him not in velvet?
 
TnTurk":blv44l3i said:
Wow...I never would of believed it. He doesn't even look like the same deer. Do you have any other pics of him not in velvet?
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Here he was a couple days before.... right before he dropped his right side

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megalomaniac":22xog9bz said:
TnTurk":22xog9bz said:
Wow...I never would of believed it. He doesn't even look like the same deer. Do you have any other pics of him not in velvet?
Click to expand...

Here he was a couple days before.... right before he dropped his right side

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Look at those bases, nice, can't wait to see what he looks like this fall.


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Don't feel bad guys, I would have aged him at 2.5 as well based on the first picture. I just put this up as an example of just how much weight a buck can lose during the course of a season, and also as an example of just how inaccurate judging buck's ages this time of the year can be. I can age a deer better in late summer in velvet even better than right now!
 

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