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Field Aging #5899737 08/28/15 12:19 AM
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I have been reading up on aging deer on the hoof and gives me some hints however some deer I just have no idea. Body size and antler mass in my area is somewhat consistent but not 100% accurate. My purpose is to cull the bucks that have no potential and let the other ones age. This deer on the left I have no idea how old he is, maybe 4 1/2 ? I do have history with the deer on the right and is minimum 4 1/2. Help me out with with your thoughts and then I can post a couple more deer for aging.







Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5899747 08/28/15 12:24 AM
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Neck meets the body high, big ears, skinny legs, no dip in the back, and a long snout, 2 year old with great potential. up



Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5899756 08/28/15 12:31 AM
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Judging deer can be tough. The buck on the left is either 4 or 5 IMO, more 5 yr old. He is has a thicker body, dished forehead, calloused knees, width in his brisket, and staining on his hocks(not common on younger deer in the summer, but is on mature bucks). Also he seems to have quite a bit more white hair on the inside of his ears vs the black hair. Not every deer fits the age "mold" either. Deer really show their age much better in Oct-Nov depending on where you hunt.
For the purpose of culling, how many acres do you have to hold deer on(LF vs. HF)? How many tags/hunters do you have to cull the herd with? IME culling does is far more important than culling bucks at first.


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Re: Field Aging [Re: rickym] #5899760 08/28/15 12:32 AM
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Originally Posted By: rickym
Neck meets the body high, big ears, skinny legs, no dip in the back, and a long snout, 2 year old with great potential. up


He is actually older.

Velvet aging is and can be a humbling experience for the best of us at aging.

So humbling its best to just collect pics and wait until they go hard horned. They are both mature... How mature time will tell.

Summer deer just don't express the same way has hard horned October bucks. Testosterone levels are very low.



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Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5899806 08/28/15 12:51 AM
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The deer on the left looks younger than the deer on the right to me. The deer on the right is probably not going to get any better than he is this season, and he may have been better in previous years. He is a fully mature deer IMO, and one that should be taken. He appears older than the other buck and his rack is noticeably smaller than the deer on the left. The deer on the left looks like a 4.5 year old to me, but he may be a year older than that. In another 6 weeks or so it'll be a lot easier to age him, and if he looks to be a 4.5 year old then I would definitely give him another year. I might even give him another year if he is 5.5, regardless he looks like he still has potential for growth in the future, when the deer travelling with him does not. The deer on the left is an 8 pointer but I like the structure of his rack with decent spread and good G-3s, and I like the curvature of his beams. He will probably never be anything spectacular, but he could turn out to be a solid deer in another year or even two. Of course, I'm no expert so feel free to take all that with a grain of salt.

Re: Field Aging [Re: stxranchman] #5899886 08/28/15 01:27 AM
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Originally Posted By: stxranchman
Judging deer can be tough. The buck on the left is either 4 or 5 IMO, more 5 yr old. He is has a thicker body, dished forehead, calloused knees, width in his brisket, and staining on his hocks(not common on younger deer in the summer, but is on mature bucks). Also he seems to have quite a bit more white hair on the inside of his ears vs the black hair. Not every deer fits the age "mold" either. Deer really show their age much better in Oct-Nov depending on where you hunt.
For the purpose of culling, how many acres do you have to hold deer on(LF vs. HF)? How many tags/hunters do you have to cull the herd with? IME culling does is far more important than culling bucks at first.



I agree with Ranch, mature deer on left and the right.

Re: Field Aging [Re: BOBO the Clown] #5899887 08/28/15 01:27 AM
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Originally Posted By: BOBO the Clown
Originally Posted By: rickym
Neck meets the body high, big ears, skinny legs, no dip in the back, and a long snout, 2 year old with great potential. up


He is actually older.

Velvet aging is and can be a humbling experience for the best of us at aging.

So humbling its best to just collect pics and wait until they go hard horned. They are both mature... How mature time will tell.

Summer deer just don't express the same way has hard horned October bucks. Testosterone levels are very low.



Dang. Looks younger to me, though I didn't notice how big/dark the ankles were



Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5899917 08/28/15 01:36 AM
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I'd say both are 4.5 or better. If true, I'd take them both out if you have better options for breeding.


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Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5899966 08/28/15 01:55 AM
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I have him at 3 or 4, could flip a coin, but thinking 4. Chances are real good if he was older him and the known 4yo under the feeder would flip spots in that picture.

Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5899999 08/28/15 02:07 AM
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Rifleman that's a good point. I know the bucks at my place that have age on them don't share protein and are more less dead center under the corn feeder.



Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5900263 08/28/15 07:53 AM
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Yeah, but the oldest deer isn't necessarily always the most dominant.


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Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5900277 08/28/15 09:26 AM
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This is true I think with bucks that are really really aged. They will get pushed around from my experience.

As in this old buck below. He is most always circling the inside, but near the edges. The "stronger" animals keep him there it seems.




Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5900445 08/28/15 01:28 PM
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I think there is a year between them and the one on the left is older and mature.


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Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5900700 08/28/15 04:01 PM
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Both deer look 5 years old to me.

Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5901209 08/28/15 08:29 PM
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Good discussion. I would just say that it is very hard to judge the left deer and I cant find a pic from last year to go by. Will post pics as his velvet comes off see how he looks as the season approaches.
Here are a couple more pics of some very healthy bucks. Do the large hind quarters indicate 4.5 year old rather than 3.5?







Re: Field Aging [Re: stxranchman] #5908228 09/02/15 12:01 AM
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Originally Posted By: stxranchman
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For the purpose of culling, how many acres do you have to hold deer on(LF vs. HF)? How many tags/hunters do you have to cull the herd with? IME culling does is far more important than culling bucks at first.


As mentioned summer time aging can make us all look bad. I tend to think both of those bucks are going to look at least 5.5 once they fill out this fall. I would be interested in the answers to the above questions.


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Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5908283 09/02/15 12:39 AM
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I have mucho difficulty in the summer.


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Re: Field Aging [Re: stxranchman] #5908302 09/02/15 12:48 AM
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Originally Posted By: stxranchman
Judging deer can be tough. The buck on the left is either 4 or 5 IMO, more 5 yr old. He is has a thicker body, dished forehead, calloused knees, width in his brisket, and staining on his hocks(not common on younger deer in the summer, but is on mature bucks). Also he seems to have quite a bit more white hair on the inside of his ears vs the black hair. Not every deer fits the age "mold" either. Deer really show their age much better in Oct-Nov depending on where you hunt.
For the purpose of culling, how many acres do you have to hold deer on(LF vs. HF)? How many tags/hunters do you have to cull the herd with? IME culling does is far more important than culling bucks at first.

We are located in coleman county on a small piece of LF property 450 acres with 4 hunters. Genetics are not that great but our deer can age to maturity and we see a lot of the bucks year to year. Two of my hunters will take 3 or 4 doe total each year and I cull or try to take a mature buck. The buck with the heavier mass probably will not get much better and I would like to see my son take him with a bow or one of my other hunters take him but he disappears when the season starts




Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5909258 09/02/15 04:13 PM
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We age em bang after we cull em... rofl can't judge age of deer by its rack... coolpics if ya looking for a mature buck, look for thicker neck, sagging in back, grayish hair, wrinkley face... bang no wait,.thats me... rofl i aint worth to 2cents let alone a buck... Here the muture bucks got that way by surviving hunting season... They tough enough ta get pic on game cams let enough aim lowfers free ranging LF deer... Good thread.. Interesting ta see what experts call a cull... flag

Last edited by colt.45; 09/02/15 04:19 PM.


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Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5909815 09/02/15 09:12 PM
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Thanks for posting this. My lease now requires all deer be at least 3.5 years old. I can not for the life of me see how you do that without ground checking them.

Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5909884 09/02/15 10:02 PM
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I have read several articles online and this one kind of helped me out more than the others with a little more detail,
and seems to be more in line with the deer in my area.


http://www.1atexasdeerhunting.com/bodyagingdeer.htm




Re: Field Aging [Re: Texas45] #5910022 09/02/15 11:25 PM
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welcome ta THF... We went from 1buck county ta 4deer county.... [i] flag



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Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5910184 09/03/15 12:34 AM
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IMO there are two ways to age - one by "math" the other by "feel" - I am a totally feel guy - I have looked at so many deer over many years live and on camera I tend to score and age by looks. If I can see several camera pictures of a buck and see it live then I can get pretty close on score. When aging, I look at certain things - Roman nose, sway back, brisket, face, the way they walk, and how the interact with other deer. Nowhere near perfect but usually can get with a year either way on their age.

I also have friends who are very experienced who score by adding up each tine, width, ect. and are pretty good at guessing score via math - add up everything. They have learned to see each tine, determine length, and add all that up and give a close estimate on score.

At the end of the day it is about spending the time in the field looking at live deer, looking at video, and looking at trail pictures to get comfortable aging and scoring.

Even with all of that, mistakes are still made. There is no quick and easy way to learn to score and age deer - it takes hours in the field and studying pictures and video.


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Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5910736 09/03/15 10:34 AM
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Well, phoowy, I had the deer on the left as a 3.5 yr old..


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Re: Field Aging [Re: allterrain] #5911016 09/03/15 02:09 PM
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scratch When they went ta 4deer county & passed 13" a deer stepped outa food plot, it bouts 100yrd & me eyes not what used ta be, starren at that hot melted iron... Grabbed me camera & took video. So could later play back & judge its age for future refrences... When zoomed in rack was the 13" + legal, food before could grab my .270, it eased off... Now i'm not expert like ya'lls, looking at video it was at least a 4.5 age buck, if not older... As pappy once said; missed that lecture in English class bout agen deer bang twas a day dreamen bouts pudden food on the grill ... i gotta re educate me kids, on how i raised em ta hunt... Are they teachen this in hunters education now days ? Wish could of aforded ta hunt HF & had an expert teach my kids, We was liven on a $10.00 hour income, being reminded how bad times are... flag



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