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Dumb 4.5…..survived

redblood said:
Its not the rack for us, we manage by age. My 14 yr old son has passed that deer a dozen times and a couple just as nice. The thrill is the anticipation to see what he will be next yr and since he is a homebody, we should have a shot at home…..hopefully with a bow
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Everybody is different I guess. I couldn't care less about age. I've never seen a jawbone on the wall. But I've never had a place to hunt like you do either.
 
redblood said:
Yeah i try to not bother them unless their is a deer i really want to hunt. They dont see us as any threat and i keep all pressure and intrusion low. I may go 6 months between trips into the core of the farm
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How large a parcel is it? How are your neighbors as far as management practices?
 
redblood said:
Its not the rack for us, we manage by age. My 14 yr old son has passed that deer a dozen times and a couple just as nice. The thrill is the anticipation to see what he will be next yr and since he is a homebody, we should have a shot at home…..hopefully with a bow
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Y'all ain't hunting !
he would have been hauled around in my battered old tundra till the hid fell off his rotten carcass !😂
 
Nice buck. Fun to develop a history with a buck. Encouraging that he is a homebody. Hopefully he makes it and you or your son get a chance at him next season. Its very rewarding when a plan comes together on a mature buck.
 
tree_ghost said:
How large a parcel is it? How are your neighbors as far as management practices?
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I own about 200 acres, but my nephew leases or owns about 650 to one side and most of the other are wrapped up in big tracts. Since there sre plenty of deer and plenty big deer and the pressure is pretty low and the terrain is vast and rough, deer can live in seclusion .


I remember a member on here said something years ago that stuck with me-" the person most likely to kill the good buck that walks in front of you, is you"

I found that to be pretty accurate, even though we lost at least 4 - 4.5s and to top end 3.5s that we had passed. The most frustrating was a super nice 11 pt who had a leg injury and was just pulled down by coyotes a couple days ago.

He was passed many times, but the yotes thought he was ready.
 

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megalomaniac said:
In a situation like yours, as long as your older bucks aren't fighting too much and injuring each other, the only reason to remove a buck like that is in hopes a new mature buck fills in the void that is higher scoring you would want to shoot.
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Yeah for sure. I wouldn't shoot a buck unless i absolutely wanted him.
 
Not gonna lie, We start shooting bucks at 4.5. All the research I have found shows that a buck's biggest antler growth is from 3.5 to 4.5. Second biggest jump is 4.5 to 5.5. The odds say he won't put on much next year. Of course the research shows the majority, there are still some that blow up at a later age. Where I hunt a 2.5 year old is lucky to make now but we refuse to shoot anything less than 4.5. A deer is biologically mature at 4.5, that's what I'm looking for. Hopefully he is one of those late bloomers and he blows up for you. Good luck with him next season.
 
easy45 said:
Not gonna lie, We start shooting bucks at 4.5. All the research I have found shows that a buck's biggest antler growth is from 3.5 to 4.5. Second biggest jump is 4.5 to 5.5. The odds say he won't put on much next year. Of course the research shows the majority, there are still some that blow up at a later age. Where I hunt a 2.5 year old is lucky to make now but we refuse to shoot anything less than 4.5. A deer is biologically mature at 4.5, that's what I'm looking for. Hopefully he is one of those late bloomers and he blows up for you. Good luck with him next season.
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There may not be a huge jump in antler growth usually from 4.5 but man oh man, their is a massive jump in matuurity characteristics. Here are a couple of our 5.5s.
 

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easy45 said:
Not gonna lie, We start shooting bucks at 4.5. All the research I have found shows that a buck's biggest antler growth is from 3.5 to 4.5. Second biggest jump is 4.5 to 5.5. The odds say he won't put on much next year. Of course the research shows the majority, there are still some that blow up at a later age. Where I hunt a 2.5 year old is lucky to make now but we refuse to shoot anything less than 4.5. A deer is biologically mature at 4.5, that's what I'm looking for. Hopefully he is one of those late bloomers and he blows up for you. Good luck with him next season.
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I actually saw him standing by my barn yesterday morning. He is alive and well and in good shape although he has definitely leaned up. He is a predictable buck and should be around and be more physically impressive next yr
 
redblood said:
I actually saw him standing by my barn yesterday morning. He is alive and well and in good shape although he has definitely leaned up. He is a predictable buck and should be around and be more physically impressive next yr
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We had at least two 4.5 year olds survive even though on is only a 4 point. The other was a nice 8 point. Hopefully they make it. Our most impressive survivor that I know of is a very impressive 3.5 year old 8, one of the prettiest deer I've seen in awhile. He reminds me of your buck in that he just kept coming out in front of us. I'm just glad he stayed on us and has shown up on camera since season closed.
 
easy45 said:
I do agree that they continue to grow body wise, just not antler growth.
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I've seen bucks hit their maximum antler score at 3 1/2, 4 1/2, 5 1/2 and 6 1/2. Hard to guess when an individual buck will have his largest antlers. But as long as you're letting bucks hit maturity before harvest, you're going to see some pig bucks body-wise!
 
BSK said:
I've seen bucks hit their maximum antler score at 3 1/2, 4 1/2, 5 1/2 and 6 1/2. Hard to guess when an individual buck will have his largest antlers. But as long as you're letting bucks hit maturity before harvest, you're going to see some pig bucks body-wise!
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I'm just basing that off of everything I've looked at research wise. Everything I've read saying on average the biggest jump is between 3.5 and 4.5 but it's not 100%. Like you I have seen bucks hit their peak early and basically keep the same rack from then on. I have a 5.5 year old on one of my farms now that has topped out as a 3 point basically. He did add a small kicker this year so technically he grew to a 4 point but you get what I'm saying.
 
easy45 said:
We had at least two 4.5 year olds survive even though on is only a 4 point. The other was a nice 8 point. Hopefully they make it. Our most impressive survivor that I know of is a very impressive 3.5 year old 8, one of the prettiest deer I've seen in awhile. He reminds me of your buck in that he just kept coming out in front of us. I'm just glad he stayed on us and has shown up on camera since season closed.
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Yeah its nice to see they male it through. Our best high end buck just came back after being gone since oct 11
 

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