Can't say I remember a thread where the discussion focused on determining what a buck's rack will look like months later. Granted, nutrition is perhaps the biggest factor but still, what can be predicted by looking at a rack so early in the year?

There's a reason you have never seen this question posed before.

x2 Hud for President!
Maybe I shouldnt of said that. Ill try again and say that I think there is very little you can tell this early but maybe you can tell a little about how the beams may lay out. It could help you ID a particular buck early on.

LOL ... but the way the guesses go around here with the "age/score" threads can be quite wide in range and sometime entertaining ...

[quote=Hudbone]There's a reason you have never seen this question posed before.[/quote

It’s another one of his trolling threads,

Here's a good read and video that shows an example of how a buck's rack develops from practically nothing to something well worth punching a tag. The video also reflects how adequate nutrition throughout the antler development period is critical to ensure the buck's rack reaches its full potential. The impact of a summertime drought can become quite obvious once September rolls around.

Link

how good of a hunter are you? i would say it will look something like this.

The only thing you can tell about him this early is that he made the season and is still alive. Some bucks can easily be recognized from pics this early on and that will give you an idea of what to expect if you know him years past.

You can predict that he will be bigger in 5 months than he is right now.

Good one...

If this were on my place...I could make a guess at his age and generally about how wide this guy would be. The age is directly proportionally to the width of the horns just above the base. On hardened antlers the bigger the base the older the deer is from my experiences. There has been studies in some areas with measurements...2yr..3yr..4yr old bucks diameters in inches. I'm not very good aging this early in horn development other than young...mid age... old...lol. Width will start to show in June...not exactly but you will notice a with from 15" up. The narrow bucks will show to be inside the ears or there bouts. I don't have any experience feeding protein and what effect it has on younger bucks. I do feed some golden nuggets from time to time...usually to help the does. This time of year I am counting fawns and I see a lot of horn development as I am at the ranch about every other day pulling sd cards and putting out feed. So far looks like I am headed for a 100% fawn crop. Last year I had around 95%. Our harvest will have to pick up or else we will get behind on management.
Good luck ...the more you look at the bucks the more you will be able to tell what the horns will look like as they develop.
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The more you look at the bucks the more you will be able to tell what the horns will look like as they develop.

Here's another photo that shows the same buck shown earlier along with two others. It offers a good comparison of antler development according to age.

The buck at the very rear is an even younger buck that I captured in another photo where he sports little more than buttons.