We have fun watching and trying to manage the deer in the area that we hunt.It can be hard since everything around there is low fenced ranches,but there are plenty of good hunters in the area that understand you have to let them grow to get the "Big ones".
I've watched these two bucks for the last three years,they always are together even during the rut.They should be 5yo deer this year. Last year they were both 14 pt bucks,one has what I consider the perfect typical rack,and the other was a double drop tine. I feed protein year round,and it really shows on all the deer we have around there.
To my surprise,this year both bucks are 10 pointer's.They are just getting in their prime,and have gotten smaller/less points. I've never seen that happen on deer that have good food and water supplies year round.

Sorry about the small pics from last year,I can't find the original's to re-size.

2014 pics-







2015 pics-

They still aren't something to laugh at, maybe they will be heavier this year and become huntable for you, good looking bucks for sure.

we have had deer dip at age 5 and then come back strong the next year - Mother Nature at work

We've had some great deer up there for many years.One of the biggest was shot by a 12 yo girl about 4 years ago. It was her first deer,a 21 point freaking monster! I told her she might as well stop hunting because she probably won't ever see one bigger than that one.
We had never seen that deer on the property before she shot it.

Depending on age structure of the herd, the 4 yr old bucks(3 yr olds also in some areas) can be the hardest rutting age class if there are not many mature bucks. 4 yr olds cover a lot of ground in the rut and challenge territories a lot also. So it is not unusual for 3 or 4 yr olds to drop off the next year. What was your rainfall like during the winter, post rut time frame?

Great couple of bucks.

This^^ They could have just ran themselves to a breaking point last year and with as bad of a winter as we had post rut last year not recovered 100%. Although if you had protein available to them post rut they should've re-cooperated strong. Never know though!

Excuse the newbie question, but how can you tell that they are the same deers as the ones you saw last year?

I don't know how old those deer are, but I know some people that have a HF place that have been watching the same group of bucks for 3-4 years waiting for them to blow up. Last year they got fed up and shot some of them, had quite a few deer in the 7-9 year old range. If you don't know how old they are they may be going down, they don't keep getting better in perpetuity.

I'm wondering this too.

I have a known age breeder buck in a 40ac. enclosure with some does. Last year at 3 he had 21 points, double drops and scored about 230. This year at 4, he is a straight up 6x6 with two or three kickers. He's not quite finished growing but I don't think he'll break 210 this year. He's got year round protein, alfalfa, antlermax textured in troughs and natural forage in the enclosure. Rainfall in that portion of Webb County is the best we have had in years. Country is in gorgeous condition. Why'd he go downhill? I dunno, perhaps it's the 20 does he bred and all the exercise that comes with that.

I've seen numerous deer in the wild and in breeder pens go from non-typical to typical and back again over the years. One such breeder on a friends ranch was a 247" non-Typical at 3. At 4 he was a straight up typical 6x6 that scored 200 2/8. Dunno what he did the next years after as he was sold to another ranch.

As to the questions about "how do you know they're the same deer"? If you're watching deer grow up, you get to where not only will you recognize the same bucks year after year, you will also recognize the antler characteristics of long since dead bucks show up in offspring on the same ranch. Whether those heritable characteristics came from the buck or the doe is a whole different discussion.

Some deer do not hit the protein as hard in a wetter year. At their age I would think between the rut last year and the wetter year has as much to do with it as anything

I had a similar looking deer in Hamilton Co a few years ago.

The ranch belongs to a very good friend of mine,and we have watched the deer up there for several decades.When you spend hours each month looking at pictures of the animals,and seeing all the different traits/behaviors that each deer has it gets pretty easy to distinguish almost every deer you see.
We have a bunch of really big 8 pts that show up later in the season each year,and we know every one of them by the way they look/act.Then there are several big drop tine bucks and others that have kickers on both sides.
We have always hunted the older bucks/non producing does/and spikes and seeing all the great bucks that are in that area really shows the positive results from the way we hunt.Every few years we will pick out a nice trophy to get for ourselves,but mainly we just hunt for the meat.

You are very fortunate to have those deer and still just hunt for the meat.

Txhillbilly, when I replied to this post earlier today, I couldn't see your photos b/c I was at work. I'm home now and have been scrolling back and forth on these photos for about 10 mins.

While I agree that both bucks look mature, I'm not so sure either of them went downhill. What they lost in xtras they made up for in mass, beam and tine length.

I'd have to see more photos but I think both bucks are sporting better headgear now than at the same time last year

I'm not upset about them being smaller/less points,I've just never seen it happen very often to deer that have great food and water supplies available to them year round.They do look like they have more mass/body weight this year,but they are a year older.
I don't know if I can talk everyone into letting them walk another year,I caught hell from everyone last year when I told them these two bucks were off limits.
Maybe,some of the freak bucks will show back up,and these can get another pass.

Holding off last season was the correct decision. If you're on a lease with other folks who know deer and have contributed to improving the property, asking them to hold off mature bucks is gonna be a tough sell. Doesn't sound like y'all are to the point of having trophy bucks die of old age. But! You'll never get there without deep pockets or motivated lessees.

Don't be afraid to kill a few mature, trophy bucks. Especially once you have multiple bucks coming in each age-class. And don't be afraid to let your best buck(s) die of old age, either.

Here's a few pics of other deer we have around there.
One of the big 8 points-


Some 2-3 yo's.The one on the left and center are native deer.The buck on the right is tagged,and we found out it escaped from a high fenced ranch about 30 miles north in Oklahoma after making some calls about it.



11 point taken last year-



13 point taken last year-

I killed a buck several years ago that had a 13 inch tear drop- drop tine with a peace of dried up velvet stuck to the bottom of the drop the season before I killed him. He did not have any drops the next season, but still had the super long brows that actually forked the second season. He also grew some kickers. He was very easy to find because he held his turf and was real wide with super long brows. He had 24 inches of scorable brow points when I killed him. The year before, each one of his brows were about 9 inces long and were curled in. Deer surprisingly don't always carry all the same cool stuff every year. I know a biologist that had to dart a 3 yr old ten point and released him into captivity for healing from exhaustion from being ran by dogs. The next year at 4 years of age he was only a 6 point even with being fed protein pellets. The deer was released back into the wild after recovery. STRESS, AND SHOCK from their environment is hard on deer. Not to mention the climate, rain no rain. Hot and dry, kinda hot and kinda wet.

what.....