Just curious of thoughts on what everyone thinks as to life span of free range deer in South Texas? I have heard theories that deer on protein do not wear down their teeth as much as if they were on full time browse. Tooth wear apparently is the one of the primary causes of death - they cannot properly chew their food any longer. I have also read studies where radio collared bucks were tracked and had up to 25% per year die off due to predators/drought.

I also realize at times a buck can live to 10-12 years old and that there are exceptions. But overall, on average, what would be an average life span for a buck? 6-8 years old?

I'd guess 5 as an average lifespan, but that's just spitballing.

For the most part on places around 1000 acr or less i will say 5.5 is about it and that all depends on how the hunting pressure is .

Man, if we're talking solely bucks, on LF places, I'd actually guess it to be younger than 5. Lots and lots of bucks get shot at 2.5 and 3.5 and not many make it to full maturity. I

I agree with that to a large degree, and the ones who make it past that are vampires and only come out at night. Hunting pressure has a large effect on deer. When we first got our place we had several deer in the 4-5 age class that were regulars at the feeders, but we didn't shoot a deer for the first 3 years, since then the mature bucks aren't so photogenic.

I'd buy into your theory about tooth wear, spend anytime in S. TX and you'll find that everything you own is covered in wind blown grit, you'd have to think that everything they are eating is like chewing on sandpaper.

I'd say if you take the average age, which would include all bucks from birth to death and all source of mortality, these guys are probably about right. Now if you are talking maximum age, I don't think it is uncommon to get deer regularly 5.5, 6.5, or even 7.5 if you have enough to start with.

No fence. We have had one buck aged at 11 1/2, killed 1994. Have pictures of some we guessed to be 5-7 years, but have not put any of the older deer down. Most of our bucks are 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years old, with an occasional 5 1/2.

I should clarify. Not talking death via hunting. Just natural causes

They live much longer than you think. I have seen a radio collared doe on what was once a large LF ranch that sold off in pastures. CKWRI tagged a lot of deer in the mid 80's on this ranch for study. One ranch I hunted on had a doe that came off the neighboring ranch that had a collar. I talked to one of the guys at CKWRI and they said they tagged deer in 84,85 and 86. If she was tagged as a doe fawn in 86 that would have made her 14 yrs old when I saw her. The 2 yrs I watched her bow hunting she would watch me in the tripod. She raise a single fawn one year and twins the other year. I killed bucks on that ranch that had no teeth and had to be approaching 10+ yrs of age.
Here it the jawbone from one of the older bucks that was killed on that ranch. He is the euro mount on the right in the pic. Both bucks were killed on the same ranch about 3 miles apart. The other buck I aged at 7.5 yrs old. Not sure how old the older on was but I know he was so old his body weight was down to 74 lbs dressed weight. Mature deer ranged from 145-195 dressed on this ranch.


This buck was never killed but this was the 3rd year I had seen him in this pic and thought he was at least 7.5 or older the first year I had seen him.

This buck I aged at 8.5 by toothwear.

I know that George Jambers had a 4000+ acre ranch on the Live Oak-McMullen County line that he had a buck that he watched from a fawn in a pasture that was off limits to hunting around his house. The buck was never bottle raised or tame just at 11 yrs old he became gentle and was thought to have lost all his teeth. He hand fed that buck every day for the next 10 yrs till the buck died. IIRC Mr. Jambers died right about the same time or just before buck died. So he was 21.5 yrs old. There was an article done in TTHA magazine about both of them back after they died. Had a few pics of the deer also thru the years.

Does it depend on areas of the state as to longevity? Such as sandy verses rocky etc. country? Not counting hunting.

Also probably depends a lot on average parcel size and hunter density.

I know there are cases where a buck lives to 10-12 years old but I would think that is the exception to the rule - Seems on average their life expectancy would be 7-8 years old - but who knows

Sombrerito Ranch shoots bucks at 9 yrs+ old quite often.

Back in college I was part of an ongoing predation study that looked at mortality rates of deer from predators, mainly coyotes. If the hunting equation was taken out of the picture a deer that made it into it's 3rd summer stood a very good chance of making it to 10+ years old. This included drought seasons as well as hard winters... At least these were the findings in the control group we were working with.

So that brings up the next question - in general do bucks horns peak at the 6-7 age and then go downhill after that ?

Tons of variables, carrying capacity, herd management but generally speaking, I'm going to say with free ranging, LF deer, 5-6.5 years is peak horns..

Going to depend on conditions, teeth & how active they stay in the rut.

Sombrerito Ranch, Bill Carter says a lot of his bucks don't get their best antlers till 8-9 yrs old or older. I think they quit rutting at 7 yrs or so if you have a good age structure.

On a different subject but similar. A buddy of mine killed a mule deer in West Texas that was very old. If it is the deer I think it is I saw him the first 2 yrs we hunted and thought he was 3 and then 4 the next year. I looked for him the next 2 yrs and gave up thinking he was killed or died of old age. He killed him in our 7th season. He dressed 118 lbs and was hide and bones and no teeth left. He grossed 183 NT in West Texas. No feed and survived on native range. If a deer can live in that desert habitat for that long then a WT should be able to do the same on better habitat.

Good information in this thread. I'd never really thought about it.

A guy that came to work for me 12 years ago liked to talk about his pet whitetail deer that was 5 years old then. She is still around, that makes her 17 years now. She had twins till she was 14 years. She lives in the deer population with other deer but gets special privileges, like dinner in the garage, and brushed down occasionally. She still greets him at the fence when he comes home.


Meet Doesy,

I was going to throw the bs flag on 17 years, but apparently some deer farm had a pet doe live to be 24 up north. Had no idea they had it in them, but I guess when you consider the human average lifespan used to be like 38 prior to medicines and surgery and whatnot, it's not difficult to envision deer that have food, etc living twice or three times as long as ordinary wild deer.

Well cameron00, you would have been right, maybe.
I just spoke to the guy who had that deer. She just walked off this last winter (he never shared this with me). His guess is that she wondered off to die like an old dog would, he never found her. So she made it to 16+.
And I agree, her special treatment and care had to be the difference.

Awesome thread, lot of learning to be done for us young hunters.

There was a lady in Somerville the biologist always use to tell me about that had one she was feeding sweet feed to in her back yard that was suppose to be 24yrs old

Their health and mainly teeth ware will determine how long they live