That is a very young buck and anyone who thinks he is older than 2 and 13" or wider can pay your fine if you choose to kill him. Younger deer rarely are wider than they look like in photos. Ground shrinkage will be real.

Not a yearling but 2.5 max in my opinion.

Apologies, but I didn't quote you to begin with.

But did you not read the OP? Did he ask for your thought on age? Not trying to single you out here, but far too many people are concerned about the deer's age versus the question about being of legal width.

And to answer you question, if it were my daughter, no. But when I take my daughter on her first deer hunt, any legal deer that makes her happy is getting shot. We will start worrying about age on second deer.

Agreed, yearling or 2.5 max. I would bet the farm it's not 3.5.

^^^^^^ The right age IMO....but what do we know.

The question was he wide enough. What the F does age have to do with it? Man some of you guys have lost your way.

Age has a lot to do with guessing how wide he is. He is not fully grown so his antlers will look wider and larger than they really are. Those who understand the correlation of the 2 get it.

A 2 yr old deers ears aren’t as wide as a 4 yr old deer in most circumstances. That needs to be considered when attempting to tell if a deer will be wide enough. TPWD says use the ears to approximate width but age plays a part in making an educated guess.

A game warden doesn’t have the authority to allow someone to break the rules. If your son had shot that deer and it was 12 1/2 and another GW checked it he would have been fined and the deer taken away. It’s that simple.

FWIW, there are some folks on here who are terrible at aging and scoring and some who are good at it. Figure out the ones who know what they're talking about and ignore the others. (not directed at Stx)

In the same dilemma choosing a buck for my son to take. Either of these bucks look smaller than 13" to you guys? Took the video last Saturday morning watching deer and will sit in the same blind this Sat with my kiddo.

bucks galore
https://youtube.com/watch?v=raXv2Q7pxBQ&feature=share

Thanks!

In that video the buck on the far left is the oldest and looks to be the widest, IMO. All 3 of those look wider than the OP's deer.

I had to take a Dramamine to watch that.... From what little video you had off the far left buck he did not look wide enough. None of them look over 13" nor older than 2 in that video IMO. They may look much different in person.

TPWD does not reference age when estimating width unless I missed that part. They solely reference ears to get to your 13 inches. Yes nature would say a young bucks ears are not as big as a mature buck. But if you can prove your buck meets the ear criteria I would find it very hard for a GW to issue a ticket if it was shy. Be honest and prove your case.

They measure inside spread and not ear width on a deer. Show me where they do it differently and I am on your side. If you as an adult are there when the young hunter kills the deer they will get a ticket. Won't be any case no matter how much you talk to them. If the young hunter is alone it will be up to GW to decide what he does next.

I hunted an AR county for 8 yrs and the first buck I let my Dad kill I was certain he was over 14" inside if not 15" inside. When we walked up to him..I thought " Oh crap, he make not be 13" ". Luckily he was 13 6/8" after a quick tape measure. That was a first experience and a learning experience when guessing width. All deer ear widths are not equal and vary greatly from region to region ....and even in the same region or even same ranch.. I killed deer that were barely over ear width and were 17" on that place and deer just barely over 13" to 14" wide.

I understand the inside spread. But the ears are used as a reference in all pics. I’m just arguing you guys who are saying young vs old ear size etc.

That is the only reference they could use for width. They know that ear width varies and take that into account. That is why 13" is used. If that deer was 3 or 4 or older and ear wide for width he would be legal. He isn't that old so he isn't that wide IMO from the pics. It doesn't matter to the GW how wide the deers ears are....it is a 13" inside rule.

So they expect the average hunter to age deer now. No, they use ears to reference because that’s the only thing all hunters can understand to reference 13 inches. Everyone associates outside the ears as legal. If not referencing ears there’s no way to field judge for common hunter period

All I’m saying is if you shoot a buck outside his ears and he falls short and you get a ticket I’d be surprised. But I would call the GW and show him.

Sucks you even have to worry about it. Don't get me started.

They are going to pull out tape measure to measure inside spread width period. You can make your case as he writes you a ticket.

Last year there were 22 illegal deer killed on Ft Hood as in under 13 inches. Every single one was taken, hunters fined, and suspended from hunting on Ft Hood for 30 days by the game wardens. Some I personally seen and they were barely outside the ears. The one thing they all had in common is they were young.

No they expect them to understand the deer still has to be 13" inside. That ear width is a base for estimating spread not a guarantee. I was at meetings GWs were asked this question. They always replied that if the deer was that close to pass on it and keep hunting. https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/land/wildlife_management/deer/antler_restrictions/ Scroll down and read when you see the photo of a buck with red width references. They say " Ears in the alert position are approximately 13" apart and may be used to judge the inside spread". It is still the inside spread that will be measured not ear width. It is just used as a reference no matter what the age of the deer is.
The buck in OP photos doesn't show him looking at the camera with alert ears either. I think this would be a mute issue if he had that pic instead of what he has.