Heck, I dunno. The first buck looks 2.5 as does the second one. The deer with the stained hocks is either 3.5 or 4.5 and needs killin'! Badly.

you don't have to shoot a buck do you?

Ryan, don't get too bogged down in the exact age of a deer, look at the class of deer and use young, middle aged, and old/mature as a way to determine the class of deer you want to shoot. This can be done for both doe and bucks. In all the spike and even the 2.5 yo 6 pt pics, those are all too young to shoot. The first buck you posted would be a solid middle aged deer and depending on what you want to do with management could be a taker or could be saved for a year (or two) later. But, think of them in classes rather than specifics and it makes the job a whole lot easier.

Currently on my lease I will be happy to shoot any middle aged deer that tickles my fancy. If I ever own a place, it will likely be mature deer only unless buck:doe ratio is out of whack in which case we will take doe to bring that back in line. Everyone has their scheme, as long as you stick to your's, there can be benefits.

Thanks for the advice. I tend to overanalyze things. Guess I have always been that way.

I do want to get better at aging deer though. First doe I shot was a baby. I thought she was older so I don't want to make that mistake again.

No trick question, just seems like your trying to find a way to call one of them a cull. Maybe I'm wrong.

The busted up one looks 3 to me. The spike/fork horns all look about right as 1/5's.

How long are you guaranteed to hunt this property?

I would talk to the FIL and get a feel for what they try to do. Is there any management plan in place? Honestly I probably would have shot one of the spikes, but if they don't believe in shooting spikes that would have been a no no.