Guess the age if you want. I saw this buck last year and thought he was either a 1.5 or 2.5 yr old. I wavered back and forth on him for age due to several things I was seeing on him.
First pic is from Nov 7th. 2018

Next 3 pics are from around December 7th to 9th, 2018



Last pic is from late December 2018

I was leaning more to 2.5 due to hock staining and his attitude even with the smaller body. I felt like he was a very small body deer that looked younger than he was. I did not get any pics of him in the feed pens and think he just moved in sometime in late October last year and then stayed the rest of the season.

Older than you thought is my guess, I will say 4+

I don't know deer in your area well, on places I'm familiar with I'd say 2 or less, or if you want to get into the .5 thing, 2.5 or less.

If you think he's that or older, I'd say he's got a bad case of the low T.
Maybe the runt of twins or orphaned young.

2.5

I normally don't get into the .5 thing either but put on this time. No history on him from the year or two or three before either. I generally only run TC on feeders inside feed pens and was not jumping into the feed pens from Aug till general season started. He was a regular all season on road corn at different blinds. With the half or torn off ear I should have been able to find him in the past yr(s) easily. He was also very small bodied compared to other 2 yr or old bucks and is standing with a 2 yr old in that second pic. No TC pics or still pics I took at blinds showed him from the previous years. I make it a point to take stills of every buck I see to show antlers and face/ears/head/body for future use. He was a no show from any season pics till last season. If he is 2 in that pic then he was a runty 1 yr old and most likely a little spike buck. I had one like that the year before that showed up in late Dec 2017/Jan 2018 but he had did not have the notched or half ear.

Awww Trex is so cute..

I suspect he's born off cycle and is a really old yearling in the pics you've shared, in the 1.75 to 2.00 range. I'd also guess that he lost his momma before reaching the age that she kicks him off (or he was a twin to a young mother who struggled).

I didn't mean to insult in any way.

I still think he's got a testicular problem/low T, with a chance of being the runt twin or orphaned a good while before natural weaning.
The small body for your area's normal tells me he had rough start, the torn ear isn't something I see a lot of, could be a clue might be a nothing.

Might just be my eye site, first picture his head looks square on top like a normal buck, I see a flat spot almost an indention/divot on his forehead between & above his eyes, could be shadow or my eyes, maybe a heck of an injury when younger.
In the other pics the top of his head appears more rounded, especially the one directly from behind him looking away.

If he was on my place he'd be 2.5 or less, or considered sausage.

I would go with 2

My guess would also be 2.

With an ear like that should be easy to watch, of course ive said that before with one similar we had and he just plain disappeared.

No offense taken in your post. I just agreed with your thoughts. I think his problems are being born very late in a bad year and probably orphaned that same season. Just a WAG on my part. His body size and look really did not change from before the rut to post rut in those pictures either. I saw a fawn the first week of archery this year that is very small and born to a very small bodied doe(could only be 1.5 yr old doe). This fawn is what got me to thinking about this buck I posted pics of. Makes think he was a very late born fawn.

I also look at the forehead on bucks and generally all 1 yr olds have a flatter skull in front of the antler bases and they start to dish/cup out there with age. The more dish/cup you see the older they will be in most cases. Heavy antler mass can effect that also.
AR protect him here and others like him in this county. If I was MLD I would have rolled the dice on him last year.

Wouldn't he be legal since he has one unbranched side?

He has no antler on that side. I would not shoot based off that alone.

Interesting. Why would you not shoot that deer?

AR county - a buck must have at least one unbranched antler or both branched & wider than 13".

The buck in question has only one antler and it is branched.

He has another. I’d kill him just to watch him die. Looks pretty tasty.

Strange, I don't see another unbranched antler and neither does the man that has watched the deer for a couple years & took the pictures.



I guess I better get my glasses checked. Oh, wait.

I'm guessing born late in '17. I like the #2 "Are you my daddy?" picture. I could not tell if the larger deer's right beam is growth or broken. Have you had any pictures of "split ear" this year?

Well yes I actually do have some pics from this year. He was never much of a feeder pen buck, but he was coming to the house to water and corn feeder off and on during the summer. Here is a pic from July 27 this summer.



How old does he look now?

I think your age was correct of 2 something last year, given this year's picture. This dude will probably be one of those bucks that slip under the AR protection until he is mature. He will have learned all the mistakes that got the pretty boys "kilt" and be one tough deer to hunt.

He looks 4 in that last photo.

After a really dry July, Aug and into Sept. he finally started jumping into the feed pens to eat corn.

I still say 4 yr old. How old do YOU think he is.

Have not seen him in good light in October to make a good guess on age at this point. In the pics he looks from 3 to 5 depending on the day and how he is standing... He added a lot of weight and bulk to his body in one year that totally changed how he looks.

Finally able to see him in the daytime hours. Very difficult buck to try to guess and age on him. Since he is not 13" or better inside he gets to live longer.