Which goes to show just how inaccurate summer-time aging can be
Aging bucks any time is a crap shoot for me unless I have some history to lean on. Some are obvious but others are not. It's always really just an experienced guess.
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- Thread starter redblood
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Aging bucks any time is a crap shoot for me unless I have some history to lean on. Some are obvious but others are not. It's always really just an experienced guess.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Particularly the case outside the month leading up to peak rut.
Post-rut and summertime are the least accurate times.
On bucks from 1 1/2 to 5 1/2, where the rut peak is around mid-November, I can usually guess buck ages correctly or within 1 year from mid-October to mid-November.
In times past, what I've often been most frustrated about personally has been aging a buck at either 3 1/2 or 4 1/2, then kill that particular "target" buck, only to find out he was a year younger post-mortem.
Many bucks do reach around 90% (or more) their peak B&C antler scores at 4 1/2, but most don't hit 95 to 100% before 5 1/2 or older. And, it we use actual weight of antlers (or water/air displacement), that peak antler size may be more like the age of 6 1/2 or older.
So my personal solution for my own incorrect aging has become to just not "target" any bucks before I believe they are 5 1/2 or older. This way, a "mistake" hopefully won't be any younger than 4 1/2.
And, bucks do tend to develop more unique antlers at 5 1/2 & older, plus commonly much more visually impressive due to commonly having more "mass" (circumferences on tines & beams) than they had at 4 1/2 or younger.
Even during the middle of the rut, It's still easy to incorrectly age by even 2 years on an unknown buck in the field, as it presents, giving you only seconds to evaluate. While I often have a "target" buck or two believed to be 5 1/2 or older, I more often have one present which may appear fully mature, but has never been seen before.
To what extent possible, avoid focusing mostly on the antlers, and focus on body & physical movement characteristics more. If you don't focus mainly on the body, you will kill many top-end-antlered 2 1/2 & 3 1/2's which you thought were a year or two older. So if your goal is bucks with the largest antlers, these will not be them (optical illusion due to small bodies), and these particular bucks are the very bucks you would most want to survive at least another year or two.
Preaching to the choir! I almost cringe when I see young bucks with big antlers because I know their days are numbered. Youthful stupidity makes them visible and a lot of hunters don't care how old a buck is if the antlers are big. Unfortunately it's the bucks nobody wants that get old. Only then do they have racks big enough that hunters want to pursue them. If only the young bucks with big antlers could get older we'd see a whole lot more giants.
BSK
Well-Known Member
That's why, for properties I work with that are trying to maximize antler scores of mature bucks, I actually produce a series of pages with pictures of top-end 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year-old bucks. These pages are printed out, laminated, and placed in every shooting house. They are the "DO NOT SHOOT!" list. Young bucks with large antlers for their age look absolutely huge from 200 yards across a bean field.
BSK
Well-Known Member
My accuracy rate is pretty good on rut-season bucks. However, with summer-aged bucks, I'm constantly reevaluate my age estimates as the rut approaches.
For sure. For summer aging, I estimate minimum age and add a year. They buck above would be "he looks 4.5+ in pic", so add a year and you get 5.5+. Also, this buck is a great example of hunters "high grading" standing crop of bucks, shooting top end 2.5s/3.5s, allowing smaller antler bucks to grow and breed. Many bucks like him are able to get to 5.5+ because of their inferior antlers (in the eyes of many hunters), and hunters inability to accurately age on hoof in the fall when hunting.
he is in a safe area. but i did attempt to harvest him in 2022. but in this area, very few hunters would care about using a tag on him
Does it work? Do they see more top end deer at maturity?
My ground isn't big enough to encompass a buck's range so I essentially hunt the same exact bucks that neighboring properties hunt. While I do get to see a lot of bucks grow through the years & hunt them at maturity, it almost never happens with the really top end ones. I don't even get excited about really big 2yr olds anymore because I never see them at 3yrs.
But not all hope is lost. Just like some bucks are early bloomers, others are late. I got to see the buck below grow from 2yrs through 5yrs and he was slightly smaller than average for his age all the way until 5yrs when he blew up. He was not around much and only showed up at night for the first couple years, then in late November of 2022 he started becoming pretty regular, probably because he was being hunted wherever he came from. And in 2023 as a 5yr old he was far & above the most visible buck on the place all hours of day & night. I suspect he survived that long only because he was never really very big compared to other bucks in the area, then when he did get big and pressure mounted he took refuge on my place where apparently he felt safe. And he was. Hopefully I see him again as a 6yr old. If so he won't be safe any longer.
great pics ski. hopefully you will meet him this fall
Understood, suspect that can be said for a lot of areas with just 2 tags. I see same thing here in SW TN; 5.5+ bucks on my cameras with very inferior antlers.
Thank you. I hope so too! Would have shot him last year but he got his right beam busted off and I passed. Still a tough decision to make as he was well inside 20yds but I don't regret it. He'll be at least that big this year.
BSK
Well-Known Member
It appears to be working. On the property where we've run this program for the longest period (last 6 years), they went from having 25% of mature bucks with 6 or fewer points to zero percent. They went from 63% of mature bucks having 8 or more points to 89%. And most importantly, they went from only 19% of mature bucks with 9 or more points, to 50%. That's a massive difference. I don't think they had killed more than 1 or 2 bucks over 150 in the previous 30 years, but have killed 3 or 4 in just the last couple of years. The property has the habitat to grow big bucks but it wasn't. And the reason was they had a buck "kill size limit" that allowed the very best 2 1/2 and a fair number of the highest-end 3 1/2s to be killed, but NOT the undersized mature bucks. In fact, the 3 1/2s were being so heavily high-graded that they actually had a higher percent of mature bucks with 6 or fewer points than they did 3 1/2s!
And in my opinion that's the key. I think hunters underestimate how much land would be required to hold the entire home range of a significant number of bucks. It would be truly massive. But I don't think that's as important as hunters believe. What IS critical though is to provide what the local deer most want (usually food and cover) so they spend the majority of daylight hours, during deer season, on your property. I've seen 100-acre properties management well enough to produce the occasional mature buck.
tasaman
Well-Known Member
Doesn't work this time of year.
BSK
Well-Known Member
It does, but you have to know what to look for. However, I would say the accuracy rate in summer is half that of near the rut.
Very cool rack
