Hope you guys don't mind me sharing these pictures. We have some cool deer and it would be a shame not to share. we saw this 3-4 year old buck this past season - his left front leg is crippled - but he looks like he will make it - in the 160's - - lots of potential. Other pics are helicopter from last year - check the body size on the last buck

That's a heck of a deer my friend, hope he makes it to next year for ya. Healthy mouse population too!

cool video

Good looking deer. Hope that gimp doesn't cost him antler growth.

That's a stud!

yeah he is a protein hog so we are hoping he stays healthy - we saw him in January so hopefully he makes it

nice deer. It is amazing to me how some deer can survive crazy injuries and another one will die of blue tongue that looks perfect.

You've got some great looking bucks

Hard to tell but in the first pic is part of the leg missing?

no sir - it is a video - click on it and you will see his injury - but no leg missing

I'm having trouble aging this deer any younger than 4.5 though.

from the video he looks 4.5 but several of my hunters saw him live and had him at 3.5 - they saw him at 50 or less yards - either way in two more years he may make a stud

Man if he's 3.5, holy cow he's gonna be giant. And you have some amazingly patient hunters

very patient hunters - we do not take them until we feel they are 6.5 or older - never 100% on age but if we make an error it is on the side of too old rather than too young. We have seen bucks add 25-30 inches from age 5 to 6 so it is worth being patient. Not for everyone but sure is fun watching them mature

You need some Dukes Mouse traps

Great looking deer. Hope the injury doesn't effect his antlers. Thanks for sharing

Great looking buck. It is very hard to age deer from a helicopter shot from above them. They always look much larger bodied and older than they really are. I would put him at 3.5 also. I have seen several bucks over the last 20+ yrs that had serious leg injuries that did grow a normal and really good rack year after year. Worst problem for them is re-injuring the old injury again. If they do that they usually do not grow normal again. I seen a buck in the Hill Country that had been wounded in his front leg at 5 yrs old. He disappeared for 1.5 yrs then showed back up with a leg like the one posted above. At 7 he was a typical 5x6 and grossed 167. At 6 he was a 5x4 and I finally saw him the last week of the season. I have seen 2 bucks in La Salle county have injuries that did not effect their anlter growth. One was an older buck that for 3 yrs every June after some late spring rains would show up limping and crippled up. He shuffled when he walked at the feeder in front of my house. He would stop his antler growth for 3 weeks then get better and start to grow again. When he was killed the last year he dressed 194 lbs and grossed in the mid 150's. Had another buck on the same ranch that had an injured right front hoof area. His hoof/ankle was injured with a hoof that curled up and he limped on it. He was healthy and grew a normal looking rack. He was killed a couple a yrs after I left the ranch. Most of the time bucks with injuries do show some sort of antler defects IME.

Here is a pic of the Hill Country buck that scored 167. He was killed in 1994. You can see the knot on his left knee area. The bone/joint was calcified and fused together. He still had pieces of bullet fragments in that leg and in his left rear leg.

This is the the buck in La Salle county that had the injured right hoof/ankle area. I will have to find a pic I took of him that showed the injured area better.

yes it will be interesting. To clarify the buck in the helicopter pic is not the injured deer. My bad. I just threw the two helicopter pics in since I was posting. On the injured deer I am not sure if he broke the knee joint or was shot. Guess he could have been born with the defect?

Hard to tell on that injury but my first guess would be he got lazy jumping in the feed pen and hung that leg in a hog panel. Second guess would be from a leg injury in a fight which is a very common injury for a buck. They put a lot of torque and pressure on their knees and hooves when fighting that cause a lot of injuries. Some heal and some don't. Since that buck is eating from the protein feeder his chances of growing a normal looking rack are much better.
I knew the top buck was not the helicopter bucks pics due to the kickers. I was just stating that many people will see a pic from a buck taken during a helicopter survey and see them as older than what they are. Deer just always looked heavier bodied when I seen them from a helicopter than when I seen them standing in a sendero.