We finally got a bunch of bad apples off our lease and the rest of us want to really take the herd management seriously and cleaning up our genetics. We got MLD 3 status and have started habitat improvement and predator control.

We are all still pretty new to aging deer and deciding which to cull. I'd like yalls opinion on the following 2 bucks. Will they ever be more than scrubs? I know they're young and there has been all kinds of new studies on not taking spikes unless they are mature, but these have some funky racks as youngsters and we weren't sure if they ever have a good chance of developing into anything.

I took out the IMG tags since the stand names on the pictures are a bit inappropriate for a pg site thanks to some pranking at the lease. If you want to see the pics and don't mind a little off color humor the links are below.

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah30...zpsvjhxeok1.jpg

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah30...zps4gyp8vrz.jpg

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah30...zpsbzbkccza.jpg

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah30...zpswp16iw1x.jpg

I would give each at least another year to figure out whether they will have promise or not. The second one looks incredibly young, late drop type young. The first one appears an earlier drop, but both appear too young to make a judgement on at this point.

Have a little guy like the first one hanging out with his mom and sisters still, don't plan on letting anyone take him this year.

Please excuse the stand names. I forgot there was some pranking going on when these were taken. lol

So at what age would you cull a deer like these? I've got them around 1.5-2.5 (am i far off). Start culling the scrubs at 3.5 or 4.5?

I wouldnt shoot either one of those buck this year. Theyre both 1.5. Give them a couple years and you will be surprised with how they turn out.I understand that this is not a HF ranch, but on HF ranches, I've seen 1 year old spikes turn into trophy bucks. This shows that spikes, if given the chance, can turn into something special.

Those deer look like yearlings to me

You can crop pictures Sir.

Can anyone provide any tips on what would help deer like this have the most potential for growth over the future years? Does this happen because of a lack of nutrients at crucial times? Is there anything that can be done to maximize these deer moving forward like certain food plots or something?

Both bucks are yearlings. The answer as whether to cull them or not depends on your deer density, age structure and sex ratios. If you have a lot of deer with bucks well represented in each age class and your sex ratio is 1:1 or close, then those yearlings could be culls (assuming you have enough other good yearlings). If your deer density is well below carrying capacity and or you have your sex ratio skewed heavily to the doe side, I let both deer walk.

There is no simple answer as to what age you begin culling. Most would say never before 3. I don't subscribe to that theory so long as everything else I mentioned is right.

Age and nutrition.

Age, Age, Age. Them I'd worry about nutrition.

So I understand that age is important, but isn't recognizing a cull as soon as possible more important than letting a deer with a funky rack grow until they are 4.5 years old and have had a few years of breeding. I'm not suggesting shooting 1.5 year old deer.

Good answer.

Very hard (if not impossible) to recognize a cull at 1.5, though I have killed some when everything else was right. If a deer was weird at one and not much better at 2 and still had undesirable antler characteristics at 2, I'd cull him. But I can't stress enough having everything I mentioned previously right...before you go culling immature deer.

Looking at antler growth on LF native texas genetic yearling deer is a crap shoot at best, and probably depends more on how recently the fawn/buck dropped from momma than anything else. As I mentioned in my first reply, I think the first buck is slightly older than the second buck, and the second one looks quite young, so even having antlers is a plus. Most late drop bucks would be button bucks and not have the antler development either of these two have.

Thanks for the help fouz and buckeye. I learned a lot today. These 2 get a pass for sure.

You can do more for deer management by culling does than you can do culling bucks early on in management. Both bucks are young and if you are over CC and have a bad buck to doe ratio then forget about culling bucks.