4-5/8 ths

If its a given why not put it?

Tuff one for me, I would guess 3-4. If on a heavily managed place I would want a lot more to look at and think about before I shot him.

5.5

I guess the horns caught us all off guard for our area, they aged him at 3.5. We just simply don't have many deer of that caliber on our place. I got the text of the live pic asking if he was a shooter. I had him at 4.5 and thought maybe could make a case for him for 5.5 (our age for harvest this year) so I said shoot him let's find out. Typically the deer that are killed out here are 4.5-5.5 and score from 125-135. Very tough to tell a hunter not to pull the trigger on that kind of deer in concho county! I guess from now on we're going to stick to our rules a little tighter! He is still waiting on a score but I'm guessing low to mid 140's.

Lots of variables make it so hard. Is it pre rut, post rut, during rut? What typical deer of the area look like? If you don't have history with the deer and the area it really can be a guessing game. We have all... well I think most of us... well I know I have and others on our property have done the exact same thing, it has made us be pretty conservative in our guestimates with deer we don't have history with. Still a dang good looking buck.

Post a pic of the jawbone if they still have the jaws.

3.5 possibly 4.5, body doesn't have enough depth, legs look long to be any older than 4.5. Great looking deer I'm sure he spread some seed a time or two, I wouldn't remorse about shooting him if you think he was too young. Congrats

I'm just reading page two after I already posted, ha!!!!!! I have my moments.

I know what you mean about depicting a shooter, trying to teach my older son how to age since he hunts by his self, he shot a 4.5yr old ten point this past November that I showed him multiple pictures of and he still shot it, our plan was to let him breed for another two years since he's been a resident the past 2 years. Like I said in the previous post, surely he's bred multiple does in his life cycle so at least you can look for those genetics in the future.

He's as old as he's going to get. I've found that my first impression of a deer's age is typically correct. When in doubt, favor the ranch. If you had him at 4.5, stick with it. I've talked myself into making deer older than they really are. More than once. Only to find out my original assessment was the correct one. I've held off on deer that were killed the next season and were much older than I thought the previous season. Just no hard and fast way to age a deer on the hoof accurately. You did the best you could and the hunter bagged a fine buck. No guarantees he would have made it to next season.

True Dat, being off on your assessment by 6 months to a year is actually not too bad...

I'll shoot him a text and see if they've got it still.

I'm not concerned about the fact that he was shot at 3.5 if he is indeed that young, like I said you just don't pass on that caliber deer in our area. But, if we know that he was that young and that big than maybe we can start.

Maybe an extremely efficient eater and was older? I shot a buck in S. Texas that by all body characteristics looked mature. His teeth looked young though according to the taxidermist. Looked young to me too. This is him 160 yards away.

I was sent the text of the deer and called him a 4-5 off the picture. I hunt pretty close and know those deer pretty well (but missed the big framed, short G4 ten this year). I don't see 3.5 on that deer at all.