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Antler growth this year

megalomaniac said:
Personally, I think a better assessment of antler growth from year to year is looking at how much the 3.5yos added to 4.5 and the 4 5yos that survived added to 5.5 this year.

Prob selection bias, because the 2.5s and 3.5s aren't targets for us ..

But for sure, this year's 4.5 and 5.5yos didn't add nearly much this year from last year as compared to years past. Pretty disappointing actually. None went downhill, but none made significant jumps from last year like we often see...
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VERY interesting.
 
megalomaniac said:
Personally, I think a better assessment of antler growth from year to year is looking at how much the 3.5yos added to 4.5 and the 4 5yos that survived added to 5.5 this year.

Prob selection bias, because the 2.5s and 3.5s aren't targets for us ..

But for sure, this year's 4.5 and 5.5yos didn't add nearly much this year from last year as compared to years past. Pretty disappointing actually. None went downhill, but none made significant jumps from last year like we often see...
Click to expand...
This for our mature bucks exactly
But we have an explosion of 2 year old 100 inch 8's
 
Average last year below average. We do have a deer that'll go high 140s. Still don't have all my cameras out we have a couple farms that don't hold a ton of deer on the in the summer. Will get them out this weekend and see where these farms are at. Overall for thr drought and all I'm actually a little surprised. Good spring and just that one week of hard cold and a surplus of acorns last year probably helped with getting back to normal. I haven't seen above normal in several years.
 
deerhunter10 said:
Average last year below average. We do have a deer that'll go high 140s. Still don't have all my cameras out we have a couple farms that don't hold a ton of deer on the in the summer. Will get them out this weekend and see where these farms are at. Overall for thr drought and all I'm actually a little surprised. Good spring and just that one week of hard cold and a surplus of acorns last year probably helped with getting back to normal. I haven't seen above normal in several years.
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Agreed.
 
Last year was unbelievable for antler growth in my area. This year isn't as good but still decent. The one deer in particular that showed the most growth I've saw so far was the 125-130 8 I shot in velvet. I've watched him for the prior 2 years and he puts on 15-20 inches a year. But his mass in particular was what caught my attention. He's always been wide but I'm suprised how thick he became. Obviously velvet makes him look 2times as thick but from watching him early the last couple summers till the time I got him in August it was an obvious difference. Ive also got another deer I've been watching that I believe has jumped 20 inches as a 5.5 y/o. I don't want to exaggerate and be let down so I'll be conservative and say he'll be low 140s. Which is almost unheard of in my area. He's not got any wider but has gained 2 points and like the other has put on crazy mass. These are mountain deer without any crops or plots. I can say for sure low stress has helped these deer more than anything else. I've yet to see 2 more that I got really excited about last year and I hope the have made the jump these others have. I feel like it's going to be a good year.
 
TheLBLman said:
Is it possible this is more the result of hunters' high-grading buck harvests, even at the yearling buck level?
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We certainly see some effects of high-grading in my area, but hunter harvest continues to decline year after year. I honestly think the poor antler development we are seeing is due to three summers in a row of fairly severe drought.
 
TheLBLman said:
Is it possible this is more the result of hunters' high-grading buck harvests, even at the yearling buck level?
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Possible for sure. Bsk said it we haven't had a great spring and summer in a while. And that what I assume it takes to get those above average years. I'm hearing reports that the midwest guys are very excited for this year. But they had a great spring and wet summer.
 
I'm still not seeing any difference. What I am seeing is an "off" year for older bucks in terms of them being around. Most years I have a fairly typical age pyramid but every 3yrs or so I'll have a year where it's tilted heavily toward one age group. Last year I was lucky & had a bunch of older bucks. This year I've got a bunch of yearlings & 2yr olds. Not entirely sure why that happens but it's a cycle I've noticed.

The only abnormal thing I've noticed about antler growth is that my yearlings are mostly forks or small rack bucks. Very few spikes. And I've got a lion's share of 2yr old 8 pointers. None of either age are particularly exceptional. Just a lot of them that are in the upper half for their age, and few that are in the lower half.
 

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