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Dwarf Deer

Ski said:
How old was the tiny bodied 118" buck you killed? The buck the OP killed was not a young one by any stretch.
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I believe he was 4 1/2.
Killing him contributed to my thereafter trying to personally "target" only known bucks 5 1/2 or older.

I'm ok with my personally killing a 4 1/2, just not specifically hunting for one I don't believe is fully mature at 5 1/2 or older.

Often, an unknown buck will appear, and an age decision needs to be quickly made. This is where most hunters are most likely to shoot a top-end younger buck which many would give a pass if that young age were known in advance.

The best way for me to minimize this type mistake has been to spend most my hunting in specific pursuit of a known 5 1/2, getting good at quickly aging live bucks, and planning on a "mistake" still being 4 1/2 or older. And the best way to get to know many the bucks using an area are via trail cam pics, year round.

In times long past, I have killed 2 young bucks that likely had the best anlter genetics (& high scoring potential) of all. One was a mainframe 8-pt yearling that scored over 100, the other was a mainframe 8-pt 2 1/2 that made P&Y.

At one time, my criteria for buck selection was simply any buck with 8 or more points, and with a "nice" rack. That led to horrible high grading, leaving only the below average antlered bucks to live to 3 1/2 & older. Since many my hunting buddies subscribed to the same antler restrictions, we actually just greatly reduced our chances for a high-scoring mature buck.

One of my close friends killed a TN buck that gross scored @ 168, aged at 3 1/2, during this era of our hunting. Another killed a 2 1/2 that scored 146.

About the only way to significantly reduce antler high grading of younger bucks is with less buck hunting, along with more hunters deciding to base their harvest decisions more on age than antlers.

After restrictions typically only make hunter high grading worse.
 
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TheLBLman said:
About the only way to significantly reduce antler high grading of younger bucks is with less buck hunting, along with more hunters deciding to base their harvest decisions more on age than antlers.
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3 consecutive months of firearms hunting beginning with the rut hardly fosters an environment where bucks can grow old or big.

Furthermore, not all of TN is the same. The 4yr old 118" buck you killed would be a stud around here. Put a 140" rack on one our local bucks and he'd be able to tilt his head back to pick dinkleberries from his rump. Where you're at a tiny bodied buck was unusual. Around here a normal bodied buck is unusual. Same TN. IMO management practices and especially expectations should be regionally specific. We have different deer and should have different expectations.
 
My son killed one a few years back. Was an 8 point, tall antlers, out a little past the ears. When we got up to it we realized it was tiny. About as tall as a large dog and the body from chest to rump was very short also. I could grab it's antlers and pick it completely off the ground (before field dressing). I would guess it weighed 70lbs on the hoof.
 
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Not the case with the initial thread post, but
suspect many presumed "dwarf" deer may just be
top-end antler genetics on a yearling to 2 1/2-yr-old buck?

Antler genetics and body size are completely different issues.

Half the bucks are going to be above, half are going to be below average,
in both antlers and body sizes.

But 25% of bucks' body sizes are in the bottom quartile,
and especially at the ages of 1 1/2 & 2 1/2, these bottom quartile bodies
may look somewhat like a "dwarfs",
especially if standing beside his brother who may be in the top 25% for body size.

Add to this that many hunters still think that a yearling buck couldn't have an 8-pt rack wider than his ears (top-end antlers on a yearling). But they can. In many areas, maybe over 1 in 5 yearlings will have 8 points, and 1 in 100 may be wider than his ears (which might be only 13 1/2" outside spread or less on a bottom quartile weight yearling).
 

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