Bryan, I may be mislead on the antlers a bit if this is an unusually large-bodied buck, but believe he'll gross below 140, not that either of us care much exactly what he scores so much as he's a great trophy because he's fully mature. If he came by me in Stewart County, based on his neck size alone, I'd probably be pulling the trigger with no analysis of his antlers (other than seeing he had some).
Compared to the 148 one your brother-in-law is holding, the
"Nice old 8" APPEARS to have shorter brows, shorter beams, and less mass. At issue, is how much less.
BSK said:
Wes Parrish said:
He doesn't exactly meet Wesley's high-grading theory since he appears to score at least average or above for a mature TN buck in your area. Since you have a little "history" with this buck, have any thoughts on how or why he might have survived to maturity?
But he actually may fit "Wesley's high-grading theory." He is a rare buck in that he "exploded' late in life. At 4 1/2 he wasn't much for a mature buck (he first showed up when he was 4 1/2). He may have made it to 4 1/2 because of his smaller antlers.
Well then, he just may fit the theory.
Particularly since he's near average antlered for a buck his age.
I would speculate high probability he was late born.
To expand on "Wesley's high-grading theory" a bit, I believe that many of the bucks surviving to maturity are not doing so because they are just genetically small-antlered, but a major contributing factor may be in their being "late born".
When "late born", they may have smaller than average antlers both as 2 1/2's and 3 1/2/s (maybe even as 4 1/2's). This means they are much more likely to be voluntarily "passed up" by a growing number of hunters. Additionally, since a growing group of hunters is focusing on age more than antlers, these late-born bucks are "tweeners", much harder to decide if a particular one is 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 (when he's 3 1/2, albeit 2 or 3 months shy).
Thus, when a hunter is convicted to only taking 3 1/2 or older bucks, a "tweener" presents a dilemma in that hunter is torn between whether the buck in view is a top-end larger antlered 2 1/2 or a small-antlered 3 1/2. Most going by age would let this 3 1/2 walk, even though they were perfectly happy with most any 3 1/2 --- he walks because of the risk he's a top-end 2 1/2.
Unlike the genetically small-antlered buck which is "small antlered" for whatever his age for life, the late-born buck can actually be genetically
LARGE-antlered and only be small-antlered during his first 2 or 3 years. He could have non-impressive antlers as a 3 1/2, yet end up 160-plus as a fully mature buck.
There's also another contributing factor to a particular buck having a greater chance of not being killed by a hunter when he's 2 1/2 to 3 1/2:
Having fewer than 10 points.
Those 2 1/2 & 3 1/2-yr-old bucks with only 8 points are less likely to be particularly targeted than one with 10 (or more) points when he's still young. This is particularly the case on clubs and WMA's that require 9 or more points for a buck to be "legal". If under much hunting pressure, most of their fully mature bucks are going to be main-frame 8-pointers, although some could be "world-class" 8-pointers.
Personally having taken several top-end 2 1/2's (two that scored in the 120's), I'm focusing on taking 4 1/2 or older (thinking a mistake for me will still be 3 1/2 or older). Unfortunately, most of the 4 1/2's and older I've been taking have been scoring less than many of the 2 1/2's and 3 1/2's I've been passing.
But at some point in the future, I expect to get lucky in meeting up with a 6 1/2-yr-old that was passed up as a 120-class 2 1/2.
