How Old This One?

[tn24]

I based my guess on a buck I killed years ago. That buck looked a lot like your deer. I have mine mounted, it's still the biggest 8 I've ever killed.

 

[landman]

I did that last year myself, we put the buck at 4.5yr, 140"+, when he showed up I shot him soon as I could knowing what I "was thinking" he was, he wasn't but 3.5 yr 133"

Thanks for sharing

 

[Andy S.]

Field dressed 160 lbs.

Another factor that points to at least 3.5. In my parts, this would be more indicative of a 4.5, or a very heavy 3.5 (top 5%), but never a 2.5. With that said, we did have a very wet and mild summer, so I suspect some "pre-rut" deer weights will be a little better than average this fall.

 

[Andy S.]

What's the best alternative now to "Photobucket"?

Imgur is what I use now. Create account, upload your images, go to the "images" pull down menu on upper right, which will have all of your uploaded images, then copy the "BBCode" link and paste into TnD post and you will be set.

https://imgur.com/

 

[Andy S.]

Wes - would like to see some pics of his teeth and score sheet. You have my personal email, or I can PM you my cell if you want to text.

Also, you should send incisor teeth in for cementum annuli aging for another opinion. It is fun to see what their analysis says, and it is not very costly ($25). If you send in now (early in season), you will probably hear back from them in 45-60 days.

http://www.deerage.com/

 

[TheLBLman]

Field dressed 160 lbs.

Another factor that points to at least 3.5. In my parts, this would be more indicative of a 4.5, or a very heavy 3.5 (top 5%), but never a 2.5. With that said, we did have a very wet and mild summer, so I suspect some "pre-rut" deer weights will be a little better than average this fall.

Andy,

This buck (and all those pics) were from 2013,
but he did have a smorgasbord of incredible food sources contributing to his weight (and antlers).

I agree it is less common (in Stewart Co) for 2 1/2-yr-old bucks to dress 160 lbs, but not that uncommon for 3 1/2's.
This particular buck was one of the "fattest" I've ever killed.
It is also not uncommon for very well-fed "fat" young bucks to "appear" a year older than actual,
and I believe this was part of what came into play with that single field trail-cam pic.
He did "look" 4 1/2 (or older) to most who saw that pic.

But the preponderance of evidence highly suggests the buck was a 3 1/2,
and that includes his teeth which were what you and I would call a "tweener", between 2 1/2 & 3 1/2.

Another observation worth noting is that most of us initially (just based on that one pic) considered this buck older and higher scoring, yet even if he hadn't broken off one of his brow tines, this was a 126 inch buck. By the way, many of those so labeled 140-class bucks "as seen on TV" would actually measure out under 130.

This is an example of a 125-130-class buck, which for most TN hunters, is an exceptional trophy buck. This also shows that a buck doesn't need more than 8 points to be considered a true "trophy" by most of us. In fact, this one really had only 7 scoreable points (when killed) to produce that 125 2/8, and would have scored 124 as a mainframe 6-pointer. Also, to most viewing him live in the field, had he had 10 scoreable points still adding up to 126, his antlers would have been "less" impressive (would have been an overall smaller "footprint"), or and/or "thinner" with even less mass.

Assuming he was in fact a 3 1/2, I suspect he would have grown into a 140-class 4 1/2 had he survived another year, and very likely a 150-class TN buck if he lived to 5 1/2. It's just that young "standout" bucks seldom live to 4 1/2 in TN, although I believe as more hunters are using age-based "shooter" buck criteria, more are now than were in 2013.

 

[TheLBLman]

Wes - would like to see some pics of his teeth and score sheet. You have my personal email, or I can PM you my cell if you want to text.

Andy, will plan to do that, although I did previously post the score sheet in this thread.
I won't be able to look for the actual jaw bone before this evening (remember, this is a 2013 kill, and you may have already seen this jawbone in the past, as I did have several experienced agers look at it, typically without even knowing the sex of the deer, much less seeing its antlers first).

What's the best alternative now to "Photobucket"?

Imgur is what I use now. https://imgur.com/

Another thing I need to do this evening ---- get all my photos off photobucket to Imgur.

 

[TheLBLman]

Also, I have sent several teeth off now. Every one has come back +1 of what the tooth wear indicated.

Still, how would you know they are giving you the correct age?

I ask that in the context of having reviewed a quality control check where the King Ranch sent off a large number of known age jawbones, and these were all from deer which had been tagged as fawns --- their ages were absolutely correctly known. The lab error rate was horrific, and that's when I started questioning the merits of sending off jawbones to any lab.

I trust my own trend data more than I trust any of the labs' quality control.

If you recall, one deer I posted on here was 200lbs and had a 18.5 inch spread,
and I had people arguing with age ("Sorry buddy, that deer is 2.5yo").
Ended up being 4.5yo.

It would not be unprecedented in TN for a 2 1/2-yr-old buck to weigh 200 lbs and have an 18.5" spread,
just very "top-end" for both weight and spread.
Most TN bucks killed of this weight & spread have not been aged,
and I suspect more than many might think would be only 2 1/2 yrs old.

I have no idea what was the age of your buck in question
Other than it wouldn't surprise me if the lab was off by a year --- just no way to know.