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PIG of a body on this buck

Def mature buck.

If the buck in the kill pic is 2.5, he's got the biggest neck I've ever seen on a buck so young... and I've seen some 205-210lb 2.5 y/os here in MS. Me thinks he was a fluke and tooth wear missed his true age.
 
megalomaniac said:
Def mature buck.

If the buck in the kill pic is 2.5, he's got the biggest neck I've ever seen on a buck so young... and I've seen some 205-210lb 2.5 y/os here in MS. Me thinks he was a fluke and tooth wear missed his true age.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Toothwear only provides an accurate minimum age, especially on the oldest bucks.
 
megalomaniac said:
Me thinks he was a fluke and tooth wear missed his true age.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Unfortunately at Ames, I do not have the option to disagree with the "final age determination" made by their staff on teeth wear, thus my only choices are he scores 125"+ (easy enough), his teeth definitely say 4.5+ (not an exact science and subjective at best) or I get a stiff fine ($250 or more) and possibly lose all buck privileges (if buck gross scores less than 115" and is aged by teeth wear at less than 4.5). Not whining by any means, just explaining the terms by which I choose to hunt and the consequences imposed if I fall short on these guidelines. Thanks for the feedback Jon.
 
Just some observations, generally speaking . . . . . .

I've aged (and had aged to back up my assessments) several 2 1/2-yr-old bucks that scored in the 120's, one that was in 130's and one colossal young buck that grossed right at 145 as a 2 1/2! One thing they all had in common was a lack of mass. They had great tine length, but relatively little mass for their scores.

By contrast, a mature buck typically gets a higher percentage of his score from mass (those circumference measurements). Most mature bucks will have a lot of mass in the first few inches of their antler coming out of their heads. And this mass is often carried for the full length of the main beams, sometimes even the tines have great circumference (although tine circumference doesn't effect score).

So just based on probability, I'd speculated your "massive" 2 1/2 was actually a 3 1/2.
 

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