What’s the point?

There really isn't one other than the fact that most deer harvested during hunting season were born in the summer. Hence, a mature 5 1/2 year old taken in December.

it's a +/- factor when guessing a deer age, I've heard a game biologist do the same when estimating age from deer teeth. If it's good enough for him, why wouldn't it be good enough for others. Is it bothersome to you?

Agreed.....but its kinda dumb if you think about it.

I don't tell people my daughter is 5 1/2 years old, so why do we do it with deer?



What cracks me up is when people say something like "its 3 1/2, maybe 4 but no older than 4.....

I rarely add the .5 yr to any deer I age. We have fawns born from April to Sept annually in a lot of areas in the state.

Yep, it is cracks me up to.

Everything my last lease "manager", and his kids, shot was always "6 & 1/2". Never 7 or 8. 'Course, everything everyone else shot was a "young deer". (All the deer his kids wounded don't count.)

It creates the illusion of precision which, in turn, creates the illusion of accuracy.

I think we all generally understand a 3 year old during deer season is in reality between 3-4 years old. Sometimes I use the .5 sometimes not. I really don't think it makes a whole hill of beans one way or the other.

People "typically" live a long time so annually is fine. As a kid how many people refer to their 1 year and 6 month old as a 1 year old? I bet most give it in months. I don't understand how people get that bent out of shape on stuff like this, much like calling a magazine a clip or a magazine, to me everyone knows what you talking about and it is acceptable but some tacticool guy has to get all bent out of shape and buthurt and "educate" you about it lol.

We are not all the same, variety is the spice of life. Embrace it

There is no accurate way to age deer unless you witnessed it being born, even by teeth.
The .5 is a 6 month assumed fudge factor for the reasons fouzman stated.

I use the 12 month variety fudge factor, 3 yo meaning my estimate is the deer is in its third year.

I killed a great 5.8673 yr old buck last year!

No point at all If you listen to the people with any experience at all. They do not add 1/2 to the deer's age.

I was taught growing up to use the .5 years if referring to an age during hunting season....learned it from my uncle and even our wildgame biologist that was a family friend. So, my experience happened to be that I used it. That's just the way I was taught. Nothing wrong with people using the .5 or not using it. It's two ways to say the same thing.

I would disagree with this. Every person I know in the game management world talks about deer that way when judging deer's age during deer season. Does it make a difference? No, but it's just more correct and in my opinion the industry standard way of aging a deer during deer season. But if you are looking at a deer in December, and say "that deer is 5" I wouldn't even blink or notice you didn't include the .5. At the end of the day, that is also correct. If a deer is 5.5 , the deer is also 5.

Actually it's not a point, it's a decimal.

Yep, professionals use the half year.
And tooth aging can be very accurate , it has been proven. It works great in areas with extreme seasonal changes. Studies have backed up results with known age deer.

Just a random silly thought...

Many humans live to their 70s. Few deer in areas with hunting pressure live until they are 7.

Assuming a deer reaches full maturity at 5 years and a human at 25 years... taking a half year off the age is quite a long time-frame in a deer's life

I was just about to post the same thing. Most deer probably don't see their 3rd birthday so life happens quick for them.

The shortest answer would likely be that most all deer are born at about the same part of the year which puts them "about" halfway(.5) till their next birthday when hunting season rolls around. Since the majority of the time it is during hunting season when we are discussing a deers age then the .5 is fairly accurate. I think most knowledgeable people know that and they choose to "abbreviate" to the round number or just leave the .5 and either way they are talking about the same age.
A more lengthy answer may be to explain that once a buck reaches his first birthday he could be called a "one year old" for the rest of the year until he turns 2. To correspond to that first year he would also be growing, then carrying and then shedding his "first" set on antlers. A 2 year old would have his "second" set of antlers to correspond to his second full year and so on for every year of his life. To satisfy most talk around a campfire on any deers age it would probably make more sense to everyone to say hes carrying his "5th" set of antlers instead of saying hes "5" or hes "5'5". To me saying hes 5 or 5.5 or that's his 5th set of antlers is all talking about the same "age" deer. I also agree that when some one says a deer is "3.5 maybe 4" then they probably don't have a lot of knowledge about ageing deer. But there are lots of guys that aren't that experienced at ageing and other aspects of hunting but we need all kinds.

It makes game biologists feel important....lol.

Other than that no point I can think of...

It must be a really boring day out there today is all I can say.

To expound on this, if a person uses a whole number, is he rounding up or down? 'Aw, he's a 3-yr old'. Okay, so is he 2.5, on his second set of antlers, or 3.5, on his third set? Most of the time people round up but it seems on deer they just drop the .5, which is exactly opposite of most math.

Also, I've never heard anybody say a deer is 1. It's either a yearling (which is NOT a fawn, despite so many misconceptions) or a 1.5 year old.

I don’t see the logic. A fawn just starts life as a 1.5 year old....and then ages by years added the rest of his life? So we age does differently just because they don’t grow antlers?

Where did the sex of the deer come into this? A fawn is a deer born that year or omg the dreaded 0.5 year old... if we cant report .5's then I guess they are "0" years old?

Yearling is a deer that is on its second winter, 1.5 years old but not yet 2.

I rarely post on here but I read quite often. One reason I don't post a lot is so many guys get misunderstood and im kinda thin skinned I guess and I really don't have a lot of time to come back on to explain much less defend like some have to do. But I got started so ill try to explain. I don't know if this will help the original poster.

1. Quitshootin- Most people would call a 3.5 a 3 but its not rounding up or down but simply an abbreviated way of saying the same thing.

2. Quitshootin-I too would use the term yearling and not 1 or 1.5. If I referred in my post to 1 or 1.5 it was to explain my point and not the term I would use. And I agree that a fawn is living its first year prior to its first birthday and I would not consider it a yearling. For what its worth I think a lot of guys call an older fawn(later in hunting season) a yearling(incorrectly imo.)
3. Pitch-Ive read some of your posts and you seem like a real sharp guy and im familiar with the country you hunt. Im not at all sure where anything I posted implied anything about a fawn starting its life at 1.5...? That may not be important but im sorry if I confused anyone on that.
4. Pitch and Redchevy- I never meant to imply that anything on this thread or anything I posted would be any different for a buck vs a doe. I just used the example of a buck so that I could use the analogy of the annual antler growing cycle. It would of meant the same if I had said that after a "deer" turns 5 it could be called 5 for the whole year until his 6 birthday.
5.don k- Yes, it must be a slow day indeed. Especially me cause I hardly ever post so way outa my comfort zone to go on and on.

It just sounds cool ....LOL.