Another buck I have 3 yrs of pics of to show how much they can change how old they look from year to year.
2018 is the first year I had pics of him missing part of his ear.



2019 his body size and shape change a bunch. It showed his age much better.



2020 yesterday evening pictures of him in velvet. He will look much thicker and older when he strips the velvet and muscles up for the rut.

Darn sure knows how to eat and build himself up.

How old do you think he is? 4 1/2?

Not real sure on his age. He has the body shape and size of a mature buck. With 3 yrs of pics he would have to be at least 4 with that body size this year. Once he sheds the velvet it will show his age much better.

if the other deer seem hungry all the time well....not pointing fingers at anybody but hes spending more time than anybody at the buffet.
man what a healthy beauty

Big bodied deer!
My guess would be 5.5 but it sure is difficult to tell whether he was 3.4 or 4.5 last year!

good stuff!

As always, thanks for the pics. Dark hock stainage in that middle year.

Neat progression of photos,

Your scope must have been off the 1st year

A real education in those pictures! Thanks

He should have been shot as a spike the first year...not when he was a 3 yr old 4 point and was not legal in an AR county

Don’t be mad, that you just proved a spike won’t just be a spike.... heck that would be one of the biggest bucks ol random Dan would of ever shot.

I have never said a spike will always be a spike.

BoBo, how far away is that deer in those photos?

You think he was a 2.5 yo spike?

If he was a 3.5 yr old 3 or 4 pt then is highly likely he was a 2.5 yr old spike. I have seen two here that I felt were 2.5 yr old spikes and I been on ranches that killed 2 spikes that were both over 2.5 yrs old.

I'd guess him to be 2.5 in the first photos and he looks to have a little bit of a fork on the remaining side, curious what the other was.

Looks to be in very good body condition, which i feel like may make him look older than he is? Any idea of the date the 2019 photos were taken?

He has the face color and markings of a 3 yr old in the first pics. The first pics I got of him where the first week of November while hunting from a blind. I looked through all my TC pics from that summer and fall and even the year before. I could not find any pics of him to verify what he was. My guess is he was a spike or 2 pt at best on the broken side...due to the fact he has had weak browtines every year since. In 2019 the pics are from early season to late season. The amount of staining in the late season puts him at 4.5 yrs old or older for me in 2019. Just the pics in 2018 do not match up...but if he was not a feeder pen deer then he might have been held back in those dry years. He has been in the feed pens all of last year and this year. He does not miss any free meals now. I road fed one day last week in the afternoon and within 3 or 4 minutes of me driving off he was on the corn(trail cam pics verified that).

you should name him Buzz.

Ouch

Come on, the buck doesn't have any tan lines

looks 5.5