Stud 2.5 year old?

[megalomaniac]

Heres a 2.5 yr old buck that just showed up. I not only have to keep him safe this yr, but the next 2 seasons as well. At 5.5 he will be on the menu!

Good gracious, that's a giant for 2.5! Hope he makes it couple more years!

 

[tree_ghost]

It's so difficult to hide top end 2.5-3.5 yo deer. Especially with social media these days. It's a miracle one makes it to 5.5+…

 

[redblood]

It's so difficult to hide top end 2.5-3.5 yo deer. Especially with social media these days. It's a miracle one makes it to 5.5+…

Indeed it is . But if it can be done anywhere it is probably here. Big tracts of protected land and very few hunters and virtually all are highly selective. The problem is I generally want to give them to 5.5 and a few others are ok with 4.5

 

[Andy S.]

The problem is I generally want to give them to 5.5 and a few others are ok with 4.5

Count your blessings. For most of my hunt area options, I want to give them to 4.5, and most others are okay with 2.5/3.5.

 

[BSK]

I don't worry about it. I hunt with family, most of whom are thrilled with a 80-100 class 2 1/2 year-old 8 point. We can produce and endless supply of that quality buck. And enough slip through the cracks that we have a very healthy buck age structure, with about 8-10% of bucks making it to maturity.

 

[AJared]

He will be a big one if he makes it another couple of years!

 

[Gronk]

As TheLBLMan posted, bucks put on a MASSIVE amount of muscle in October, leading up to the rut. Their testosterone levels are about 10 times what a teenage human male has in his blood. Hunters used to talk about how bucks' necks "swell" for the rut. Their necks don't swell; that's pure muscle. And post-rut, bucks can lose weight even faster due to exertions during the rut and lack of time to eat. A mature buck can lose 30% of his body weight in a month. That's a 200 lb mature buck just before the rut dropping to 140 lbs in a month to a month and a half.

An example: Below is a buck I had been after for a couple of years. He is 5 1/2 in the below picture. I would put his weight in this picture at somewhere around 210-220 lbs live weight. The picture was taken October 12th. When I finally killed that buck Dec. 31st, very much post-rut, he only weighed 158 lbs live. He hardly looked like the same buck body-wise.

Dang, that's pretty dramatic. Thanks for the insight guys