How old does a 8-point need to be before shooting?

Well like a lot of folks will say, the size of the trophy is in the eye of the beholder. My 2 or 3 year old 8 point that I will let walk maybe your or someone else best deer ever.... obviously the older they are 95% of the time the bigger they will be... I think I would for sure let the 1 -1/2 year old buck go...

I'd try and wait until at least 3 1/2-4 1/2

It doesn't have to be any age, just 13 inches or larger inside spread.

Don't get caught up in the hype of only shooting 5-7 yo deer. Reality is, on small properties in most of texas, we will be lucky to see a 4 yo deer walking and many will be lucky to see 3 yo deer. I know a lot of people disagree with the sentence above, but hunting is meant for enjoyment and food procurement. If you get enjoyment shooting a 1.5 yo basket 8 pt (6 pt, 4 pt, whatever) as long as its legal, then go ahead. Don't let anyone internet bully you into thinking a deer has to be a certain age before being shot. Enjoy it!! Don't over think it!!

Where you hunt and how long you been hunting?

West Texas, hunted all my life, have not killed any deer in 3 years letting the place build itself back and dad had lease hunters, now have what I call 8ites, shooting 8 points at about 3 1/2 to 4, don't think they will be anything better.

Well good luck with everything. I assume you are a teenager or a young adult, just based on your post count only, but don't let this forum fool ya, there's lots of good info on here and lots of silly info on here.

One of the biggest myths we see on here is that anyone can grow a monster deer with good supplemental feeding and enough time. Isn't going to happen for most of us, and management on a small acreage place is almost always a waste of time if the folks around you don't believe in the same management plan.

Get ya some deer this year and shoot what makes you happy

Well I'm 59 had the place going on 4yrs getting quite a few 10 points and better, just doing everything I can to make it the best it can be, getting more deer and better quality.

EHR, I hope I didn't offend you based on you being older than me, just assumed based on the low post count, bad assumption on my part.
Don't get me wrong, if you are the only hunter around you can very successfully manage a deer herd on small acreage, but with lots of hunters around (as is the case in most of texas, only way to manage is being super big or high fenced. I think I understand the point of your initial question now, being how old do you let 8pts get before you cut bait and shoot them for being nothing more than an 8?

That is a tough question to answer and depends more on your situation, as there are plenty of people who can show picks of 8 pts at 3-5 yo who turn into something special above 5 yo, but those deer are really rare, and in a highly managed herd.

Yep were on the same page, I'm lucky only have hunting pressure on one side, so management is doable, already have some great 8-points going to get some out of the way, by the grandkids.

I've seen a lot of 8s get plenty bigger and put on more points at 5.5/6.5 versus 3.5-4.5. In fact, most of our bucks don't have more than 8 points until at least 4.5 and usually not until 5.5. They are still putting food into their bodies at 3.5/4.5; two years later their bodies are mature and more nutrients can go to the antlers. As you learn your herd and genetics you can get a feel for which ones may grow more and which may not. Also, food plays a huge role in their antler development. In a bad year, a 130" 10 may be a 110" 8.

We try to only harvest mature bucks. In the last 18 years, I have shot a couple of deer at 3.5 that I felt certain were not going to develop (one was a 70" 6pt, for example). We have harvested mature bucks that were 115" 8s, and 140" 12s. I saw two 8s last week that wouldn't break 125 but I feel both were probably 5.5. Those two should likely be removed but I like to hunt and didn't want to be bucked out that early, plus I didn't get the greatest age evaluation on either one.

I've gotten to the point I'd rather pass than be less than 100% happy with my deer. If he lives another year, so be it!

When you get to a point that you need to shoot off mature 8's, then you're doing something right. I prefer to let 'em grow and show me what they got.

I too am your age, and find myself wondering the same thing. So much goes into the area you hunt, your neighbors, and genetics. But while I'd love to shoot a buck that had neck problems because his rack is so heavy he has a hard time holding his head up, I love to make and smoke sausage. For me, I see the butcher chart you see in the market when I see a deer, and if he is old enough and in good shape I try to fill my tag. However that is only secondary to the reason I crawl in my blind as the hunt is what it's all about for me. When I was a kid the lease my dad was on was in Cleo TX, and the landowner didn't want any does shot, but if you would shoot a spike he would give you a doe tag. But in the 60's they didn't know near as much about management as we do now. We were lucky to see any buck over 3 years old and if it weighed 95 pounds you had a monster. However with learning to hunt on that place as there would be 50-75 does every morning and evening at the feeder it was a great lesson on how deer react to different things. That is where I learned that I could let all of my gut noises go and not have any effect on the deer. To this day I still see if a "bowel growl" will get their attention just to amuse myself.I wish I had some good advice for you and your area, but without more details most every post you will get will be correct. Enjoy your time in the woods, and good luck!

You don't know what they will be until they hit 6+. I would rather shoot a 150 class 8 than a ten point scoring the same.

Man if more people would practice this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


If you just have to shoot something...shoot a Doe

4.5 year old 8 is what we shoot. No sense in leaving 8's if you have 2.5-3.5 year old 10-12's running around.

^ this

We try to only kill deer that are 4.5 years or older. With that mindset, it gives the deer a chance to somewhat mature. SO, we try to age first and count points afterwards, but what do we know? Some we know are culls at a younger age, but not everyone can age deer, so if you put the emphasis on age rather than points, it seems like we screw up a lot less. But once again, what do we know?

Not all 8 pointers are created equal. If a deer is 3 or 4, I'll pay more attention to the frame of his rack. That is going to be more or less the same structure every year, although they'll add tines, length, spread and mass with age and nutrition. If an 8 pointer has above average tine length or spread at 3.5, then he's got a good chance to turn into a special deer. If he's still a basket-racked 8 pointer with short tines or short beams, he's probably never going to turn into one of your top bucks if you have other deer his age with significantly better racks.

Main beam length would be one of the more important traits to look for in my opinion, as a deer with long beams will have more room to push up G4s, or even more if you get lucky, in another year versus an eight with average beam length and crab claw G3s. Here's a good example of an 8 pointer with what I call a good frame, but he was already at least 5.5 and fully mature so I killed him. If he was 3 or 4, I bet he would improved significantly by the time he reached 5 or 6. At that age a deer with this type of rack would be a deer I'd want to pass on, for sure. He's got an 18" spread, 12" G2s and beams over 21", mass isn't great and the browtines and G3s could be better, but where I hunt if this deer was only 3 or 4 he'd be on the top end of that age class as far as antler quality, so I'd want to see what he could do if given at least a 5th year.

Regardless, shoot what you like, I like to kill mature deer and although not super caught up in a deer's score I do prefer to shoot a 140" deer to a 115" deer any day. Age is the thing I want to see, so I pass on deer that are less than 4.5 and try to pass on everything under 5.5, but sometimes I can't resist being low fence with another lease 150 yards from my setup ...

Bingo! 100% the correct answer. My motto is, "If you like him, shoot him".

We have plenty of them, but choose to focus most of our shooting on does. We have to stay after the ladies to keep our ratio where we like it, and if someone is just shooting to put meat in the freezer, why not shoot a doe? We have guests and kids that we let shoot the occasional 8 if they want to do a shoulder or euro and we think its a good choice for management.

And there's nothing wrong with being a proponent of trophy management. Even most ardent meat hunters have to admit its fun and exciting to see big mature bucks.

True. That doe never stands a chance of being a decent buck, no matter how old she is. Plus bucks aren't going to threaten to overpopulate the area the next year like a does will.

IMO, 2.5-4.5 year old 8s are a tough call.

If you want to hang him on the wall, shoot him. That's what we are out there to do.

Otherwise, in general, if you've got lots of doe, just shoot doe until a buck looks like something you want to mount.

But there are times at our place that we are seeing so many young and/or inferior bucks and few doe that I want to let people start popping cull bucks. If you're seeing a lot of these young to middle aged 8s, you can compare them and pick out an inferior 3.5 and feel good about dropping him as a cull.

In todays day and age I bet there is some wack job out there setting up a go fund me for a deer that was born a doe but identifies as and buck for antler implant surgery!

Mature 8's that have done all they're gonna do.




This one was dominant and beating up all the other bucks, busting up racks. Time to go night-night.


9 point that did all he could. The .270 blew his heart up and left a huge exit wound. He spun in a circle and hit the ground where you see him. Never seen anything like before or since.