As a 2 year old



3 year old



4 year old




I think he might have some genetics from this deer...

What a stud! I wouldn't mind that guy passing those genetics on.

Real pretty buck.

You think he is only 4.5? The second pic sure looks older than 3 to me, but could just be his posture.

I'm about 99 percent sure. Our deer are very healthy. They have all they can eat with a low density.

Emily has a heckuva buck to shoot.

I would love to see her shoot it too. She's 12 years old and loves to hunt.

Im sure you know more about him than me, just have a hard time seeing that bull calf face in the second pic as a 3.5 YO.

If nothing else a lesson to what going off of one picture can mess up aging a deer. He is a hell of a buck.

Do you not think it's the same deer as pic #1? If so how old would you put him in the first picture? The dates on the pictures are correct.

Like I said, im sure you have more pics and better info on him.

I could just as easily see the first pic as being 3.5 as I can the second. I can also see the last pic being 5.5 without much issue. Eye of the beholder and I know better than to claim a deer is exactly an age by on the hoof estimates and especially from just one pic. Im sure wouldn't argue he is older is all im saying I guess.

The first picture I posted was the very first picture and history I had with him. At that time after getting LOTS of pictures and seeing him in person I decided he was a 2 year old as compared with our other 3 year olds. It's possible that I missed him a year but I really don't think I did. Our 2 year olds look like most 3 year olds I've seen on other places.

That's a great looking buck...what happened to the one in the last pic?

My guess would be he died of natural causes/old age. I'm like rifleman, I just run a retirement community for deer.

What happened to the big deer from 2012? Was he ever killed? If he was not killed is there a possibility that he could have went downhill in 2013 and that is him in the pics? The reason I ask is that the top buck in 2012 is young and I would agree his 2.5 or 3.5 at most. The pics from 2013 that buck is older looking than 3.5 to me and definitely older looking than 4 this year IMO. If they are not the same deer then you have very similar genetics. You would know your deer better than any of us also.

The last picture we had of that deer was in 2013 and he had declined quite a bit. The biologist thinks he died of old age and I don't doubt it.

Do you have a pic to post? I would like to see how he compared to this deer as far as body size, age comparison and genetics at that time.

I wish I did but u don't. I lost most of my pictures in a horrendous computer crash. All I have left are the ones from recently and the ones on my phone. Look at the right g2 on all 3 pictures. Also the way the main beams curl up and in. It's hard to see in the second picture but he had that sticker on his g2 all 3 years.

I see the kickers and mainbeams curling up on all 4 pics. That is why I asked is it possible it is the same buck. I have seen some similarities in antler growth but never seen bucks that close with that many mainframe points and NT points. Not saying it can't or won't happen, just that I have not seen 2 bucks that close with that many points. What did the bigger buck in 2012 look like in 2013 typical point count and NT point count in comparison? Do you have any sheds from any of those years and bucks? DNA would tell you a lot on if they are related or the same bucks. I like year to year comparisons like this. We can learn a lot about how deer stay the same or change over time. Great thread

He had lost pretty much all his nt points and some mass. In 25 years on this property I have never found a shed from a mature deer. I think the squirrels eat them. Now you have me wondering about my conclusion. After seeing the pictures of the 2012 buck and how old he looked then I just couldn't put near enough age on this year's buck to make it the same deer. Man I'm confused.

Nice buck

Want me to really confuse you... ...if that is the same buck in those 3 other pics, what happened to the young buck in 2012 in the first pic? Is there a possiblity that the young buck in the first pic is the buck that lost all his mass and NT points in 2013 (that you thought was the big buck in the last pic from 2012)?

I think the deer in the first pick is a 2.5 year old. Depending on exactly where you are, 2012 was a good year for horns, 2013 was a pretty good drop off and this year has been substantially better than last year. With that being said, I think the last 3 pictures are all of the same buck. Age and environmental conditions just played there part in antler development. Also if he ran hard for does during 2012 rut he really could have declined himself. Of course this is a hypothesis based off of 4 pictures. But I don't think the deer in the 1st and 2nd picture are of the same deer.

Well, at this point I have no idea. I guess I should re-title the thread "Some random picture". I knew the 2012 deer and the 2014 deer were very similar but the thought that it is the same deer never really crossed my mind. We were figuring the 2012 deer to be 7 or 8 years old back then based on all the pictures we had of him and the Biologist agreed. Maybe we were all way off on him in the first place. If you look at his right G2 he does not have a kicker like the rest of the pictures do. Here's a picture of him from 2011 and he had no kicker on his G2 then either.

You should re-title it to say "Family pics of some studs"

No doubt, the genetic line is there, now go kill the big one!!!

Again its only one picture, but I wouldn't have a problem arguing the deer in this post is younger than the deer in the original post second picture.

From the get go I just thought the deer from your first post were the same just because of the similarities, but Im having a hard time seing the jump from pic one to pic 2. I think the last three pictures of the op and this deer are one in the same but you better pray because God is probably the only one that knows.