Another shoot him? thread

So long story short, we recently took over the family ranch that was previously part of a year round 30yr (give or take) lease. There arent very many people in my family that I would consider to be super knowledgeable about hunting or deer in general. I am doing my best to get up to speed, as I have only been hunting for the last 10yrs give or take, and last season was the first time I had ever hunted on my own place. Problem is, there is a lot of family that want to hunt, and I am worried we are going to kill out things before we even get started. So I am going to post a few deer and need some guidance as to whats what as far as age, genetics, etc. I am not expecting anyone to hold my hand or do the leg work for me, I am reading all I can.


This deer was around last year but since I was feeding a lot of protein he has gotten substantially bigger. Will he ever develop beyond 6 points? I am assuming he is not very old.



This one is a nice 10 pointer, but again, looks small and young



This one is showing up at my bow stand every morning that I am not there of course, and sometimes at night.

shoot the bottom buck for sure.....

Couple more:

wtf is up with this guy?



Another healthy buck



This guy was a 7 last year, not sure if it was a damaged rh antler or what, but this year it grew back with a more pronounced g3.

In the top set of pics I would harvest the top and bottom bucks. The top one I think is only 3 but at this point not worth dividing up the groceries for when times get rough.

The bottom buck is fully mature and needs a dirt nap.

The second set of pics; the top buck in the first two picks is young and appears to have some non-typical genetics going on. Let him grow up for sure.

The bottom two 8 points appear to be about 3-4. I would give them another year if it were me.

Shoot that antelope looking deer.

Good luck. I took over our family place 15ish years ago. Nothing better than hunting your own land.

Before I would worry about culling bucks I would get a good survey then a management plan into place. I would worry more about getting buck to doe ratio as close to 1 to 1 as I could and numbers close to CC. Then worry about culling.

Exactly! Should be the first to go.

Antelope deer? The one with the straight horns? If so that is a young Red stag. He got out of the high fence during the may flood. Hasnt left just eats all the white tails food. He is the topic of my porcupine thread, has a mouth full of quills right now. He is on the list...

My point with the thread isnt so much about culling as it is trying to get a handle on what to look for in a shooter vs ne that should stick around. Seriously though I have probably myself and 7-9 other dudes that all want to hunt. It completely stresses me out because I fear that we will end up with no deer left. Last year we had a 1 buck each rule and only shot 3 bucks and three does. Everyone is pumped we have our place back but I am constantly having to be the bad guy.

But honestly once we get it all out of our systems we will have to sit down and get a plan on paper and stick to it.

How many acres is the place? What kind of deer numbers do you have?

How many acres and how much family wants to hunt? Do you have a feasible situation, or is it 100 acres and 20 people wanting to kill a deer?

Like STX said I would do a survey and some research on carrying capacity of the land and base the harvest numbers on that, not what people want to kill.

I wish you luck, family deals can be great, or a real mess.

Because you often have to make the call in short order, you want to look first at the characteristics that can be checked quickly and from any angle. For me, that starts with the legs and body. For a mature buck, I want to see legs that appear short and stumpy relative to a full body and chest. Younger bucks will appear long-legged because their younger body and frame make them appear that way. Next, I look at the base of the antlers to judge the overall mass, which increases with age. I also look for a sagging belly on older bucks and fuller chest. Finally, I'll check spread to see if he satisfies AR requirements. But honestly, if he passed all the earlier checks, there's a good chance he will.