deer 101, bare with me guys, play like I am riding the short bus to the lease and you just got stuck with a jabber mouth!

1. What is the single largest piece of info you use to age a whitetail?
2. At what point are you satisfied a spike is a spike (2, 3 or 4 yrs?)
3. What is the oldest whitetail you have taken?

I'm really new to this forum and can't seem to stop posting! shoot me with a bb gun

1. Body weight/shape
2. 2.5 but that body size is close to 1.5 so i usually weight till something looks way wrong
3. 7.5

1) size of the neck/shoulders
2) depends entirely on the local conditions
3) off the aging scale, which went up to 8.5

This is just me talking so take it as you want:

1. What is the single largest piece of info you use to age a whitetail? For a buck, I used to go by body size but now, I go by the TP&W's rules: antler width.
2. At what point are you satisfied a spike is a spike (2, 3 or 4 yrs?) I don't age spikes, if I want venison and one steps in range....it's a freebie.
3. What is the oldest whitetail you have taken? Probably a 5.5 yr old.

1. Shoulders to neck transition if I had to say just one factor.
2. 2.5 years old. I don't shoot yearling spikes.
3. It was over 8.5 The teeth that were there were worn to nothing. Had multiple missing teeth.

on #2, I am getting from y'all it is best to let him stay around for another yr to be certain he's not just a yearling

1. relative body size to the rest of the herd. When it's possible, I also look at the size of the head if I can get a good comparison....that's not always easy to do. old deer = big head.

2. 3.5 years old (the difference between 1.5 and 2.5 is not 100% possible to determine, the difference between 1.5 and 3.5 is more certain) 1.5 year old spikes are not "cull bucks". they might be legal, but not culls.


3. 6.5 years old

1. What is the single largest piece of info you use to age a whitetail? For a buck, I used to go by body size but now, I go by the TP&W's rules: antler width. [quote]








Curly, how would you know what you had if a eight point, 3.5 y.o., with a 12" spread that steps out in front of you? Don't see how you can age a deer by antler width. I've seen 5.5 year old bucks with same size spread as a 2.5 year old.

1. Back bone, belly, and snout
2. 2.5
3. 8.5-9.5 (Curly, I still have this deers horns and he measured 14" and looked poorly as lack of vitamins and minerals from his eating habits) Just sayin'

1. several things combined- back, bulldog like stance, neck transition, head (^^^^ Kyle speaketh the truth), body size/muscular build, belly.

2. 2.5, easy mouth to eliminate, they get too old and have the body weight to go with it, they can do a number on your other bucks.

3. 6.5

1. at our place if it's over 13" and has 8 or more points, it gets shot! BUT that's not what you asked... The thing I use the most to age a deer is it's body... sway backed, skin looks slack, neck appears short ect.
It was explained to me that they are just like humans
2 or 3 yo bucks are a lot like (fit)teenagers, slim, long legged ect.
older bucks get pot bellied, loose skinned and legs appear shorter.

2.on spikes... if they have long spike horns that's enough for me to let one of the kids shoot him, and for sure if it's a deer I saw last year and it was a spike then and is a spike again this year.
3. I'd say the oldest buck I've taken was 4 1/2

1. His body structure along with knowledge of the deer in the area.
2. 2 year old.
3. 7 years old from what the biologist told me. I thought it was 5 years when I shot it.

YES I'd NEVER shoot a yearling spike (on purpose)
If it's a full grown deer with long spikes it's a shooter. IMO

#1. Ear tag number...Just kidding. Depending on the time of year, I use primarily the gut in the early part of the season and the face in the later part. Seems the deer usually have thin necks and a slender face in October and by the time prerut/rut hits the necks swell,the "hawg" jaws are previlant and the nose will look short along with a more slender belly from chasing does.

#2 Usually will pass on spikes depending on what kind of other yearlings I have been seeing and what the weather was doing in the late Fall and early Spring. There was one year,after we fenced the place, that we had 14 spikes and we killed them all. Well, we killed all the yearlings and lost an age group. It just happened to be a drought year. Learned my lesson on that one.

#3. At least 6.5 years of age if not 7.5.

1)Game cameras from year to year.
2) 2.5.... now... that excludes things like antler damage on one side when the other is good etc... I very rarely see a deer that is a legitimate 2 year old spike
3) I have no idea... I have one now that runs around my house at night that is at least 14... but I would have to say that it wouldn't surprise me if I had taken an 11 year old deer...

the best way to age deer is to be extremely familiar with the deer in your eco-region and really if possible familiar with the deer on your particular property. if you've spent a lot of time looking at the deer on a particular ranch or general eco-region then you'll readily be able to recognize which ones are the more mature animals. and you'll also be more familiar with the local conditions that might effect their growth.

body size/weight characteristics are best for aging i think. but its difficult to compare those things if you aren't familiar with what small, middle, and big size deer in the area look like. its not often that you'll have deer from all reaches of the age pool standing together for comparison.

1. Back, belly, chest & face
2. Where I hunt I say 2.5 years
3. 5.5 years

ANTLER WIDTH IS THE BEST INDICATOR OF AGE, MANY, MANY STUDIES PROOVE THAT. BUT I LOOK AT ANTLER MASS, AND HEAVY THICK BRISKET AND NECK.

ANY SPIKE THAT HAS HARD HORNS, NOT A BUTTON VELTET BUCK IS INFERIOR TO A BUCK THAT IS FORKED IN ANY WAY ITS 1ST YEAR, SO I CULL YEARLING SPIKES AS WELL AS OLDER SPIKES. THEY TASTE GOOD TOO.

I HAVE HARVESTED 7.5 YR OLD BUCKS, THEY ARE HARD TO GET, NOT NECESSARILY BECAUSE THEY ARE SO SMART, EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE, BUT BECAUSE THERE ARE SO FEW OF THEM.

1. Overall body shape.....and how stiff they walk
2. 2.5 years
3. 8.5 year old doe taken on TPWD public hunt.

1)knowing the history or, looking at brisket, hocks, chin, belly, pecking order.. all in relatonship to the time of the year

2)spikes don't bother me, cull off good side not bad, and unless I hunt a 10ft HF ranch, know the carring capacity and ratio, i wouldn't be conserned with spikes because of fawn dispersal.. oh and the short anwser is I don't shoot LF bucks under 5.5 years old

3)8.5 tooth wear... Mason county stag.

1. If I have to pick one characteristic to age a deer by it would be how deep he is from the top of his back above his shoulders to the bottom of his chest. His bulkiness will change given the time of the year but his skeletal structure will not. Comparing deer to each other if you have a good population is a great way to learn.

2. I have a standing offer of $100 for a 2 yr or older spike on my place and have yet to have anyone bring me one. Nor do I think I have seen one on any of my cameras. I know they happen but it is not very common in my neck of the woods. You cant manage genetics on a low fence ranch so I dont think there is much to be gained by shooting a spike if your population is in check. Now if you have a population problem then by all means take the shortest spikes out of your yearling class or older spikes but dont wipe out an entire year class of bucks because they are all spikes due to overpopulation or drought issues. If population is a problem you need to get that under control before anything else and that means shooting a ton of doe and leaving most of the bucks alone.

3. Off the charts age wise. After 7 or 8 it is impossible to tell. I have shoot several that I dont know how they were eating anything. Almost nothing but bone on the bottom jaw.

ACTUALLY BAD RANGE CONDITIONS, LIKE OVERPOPULATION AND DROUGHT REALLY SHOW YOU THE ACTUAL GENETICS OF A HERD, AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHEN YOU SHOULD CULL SPIKE THE MOST AND LEAVE FORKED ANTLERED DEER. A REALLY GOOD YEAR WILL HIDE MANY DEFECTS OF A DEER. SO LAST YEAR FOR INSTANCE WAS ONE OF THOSE YEARS WHEN YOU COULD REALLY DO SOME QUALITY CULLING WITH GOOD EFFECTS. IT HAS BEEN PROVEN IN MULTIPLE STUDIES THAT NON FORKED 1.5YR OLD DEER MAY END UP AS A DECENT BUCK @ SAY 4.5, BUT NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WHAT A FORKED 1.5YR OLD WOULD BE AT THE SAME AGE UNDER THE SAME CONDITIONS. SO REMOVE THAT SPIKE AND LEAVE MORE FORAGE FOR THAT FORKY TO IMPROVE INTO A REAL TROPHY.

I couldn't disagree more. Worst time to try to cull is poor range conditions. They didn't even get a chance to grow anything. At that point, you aren't culling, just taking a shot in the dark. You honestly cannot cull at 1.5 years old.

a 1.5 year old spike isn't a "cull" buck.

anyone who is "culling" 18 month old deer doesn't know what they're doing.

Maybe, maybe not....they might know exactly what they are doing....who is anyone to say?

they might know they're shooting a 18 month old spike, that has one year of antler history.

but as far as doing something logical for the improvement of antler quality of the herd, shooting a yearling deer as a "cull" makes no sense.