Buck in poor shape

At first I thought it was due to a very hard rut, but with the lack of progress he is making with good range conditions and free choice protein, I'm not sure what to expect going forward or if he'll even make it to next season. Think he might be diseased?

Age issue more than anything IMO. He could have gotten an injury during the rut that is not easy to see also. He still looks in pretty good shape.

I agree...Not in that bad of shape

He's pretty skinny, but I wouldn't be that worried about him.

Skinny, but does not look that bad to me.

Probably just the angle of the pic, but looks like he's foundering in the front hooves?

We actually had to cut back on Corn for the exact same reason

Why would he be so thin with all the new browse showing up, as well as al the ground cover growth this month?

Doubt he has much tooth to chew - even the new tenderest of forbes.

Young deer, 2.5 or maybe 3.5 year old rutted down IMO.

Old mature buck. He's a little thin but not abnormal for this time of year. The only deer I see fat now are pregnant does. All others still look kind of rough, thin from winter and scruffy losing their winter coats. Most of your pics are frontal or quartering too. These pics always make them look skinny and thin. Most of time younger as well, but no mistaking this one, he is older very mature buck. I think he will be fine.

Agree, not younger buck, older management type buck..

Those last two pictures look like he has 1 hoof in the grave, one on a banana peel, and the rear two hanging off a cliff. I'm much less an expert opinion than many here, but he just doesn't look very well to me and worse as time goes by.

I hope he doesn't pass away under your feeder...
-d

He was the first buck to shed his antlers. I had pictures of him hard horned March 5th, and a picture I suspect is him March 8th without them. He looked great all through last summer into the month of December. Never put him being any older than 5.5-6.5

I guess time will tell.

looks old to me

Some of the deer (bucks/does) that I have pics of this Spring seem to be in poor condition also. Hopefully with rain and vegetation growth they will put the weight back on.

I believe so.

He might be extra wormy.

that's not a 3.5 yr old deer.

Just saw this buck in question and he looks to be in much better shape now. He defintely is foundering some in his front hooves, particularly on the right. Not really sure there's anything I can do for him about that. Hoping he'll add a few more inches this year. His G1's are just barely starting to come in.

looks old

In my experience if they are still coming to feed regular they will pull through.

After a long hard rut and a cold winter, free ranging bucks always cut a lot of weight. As for his age, if he doesn't go downhill next season, he ought to be ready to hunt.

I'd say all is well.

Looks much better! You gonna take him this year?

He looks good in that picture, but OLD.

How convinced are you that its the same deer?

101% sure

Dam that's perty sure! Will be interesting to see the rack grow out a little more.

I would have last year, but he didn't cooperate.



98%. Here's a picture of him from last year at this time. I guess I need to clean the lens, as last years picture looks much sharper.

He needs ladder and walker to get into that pen. Man he looks old.

He looks like he'll be bigger horn wise this year

He looks old, really OLD.

If he is as old as I think he looks, his antlers are most likely on the down swing. If it was a deer that I have hunted for the past few years and have come up short, I would take him first chance I got. Otherwise I would give him a pass and let him walk. That deer has been around for a while and has beaten the odds...great buck!