Give him one more year

Have you ever gave a buck one more year to develop antler wise and then he was never as good again as the year you passed on him?

Yea if he's going downhill.....

Nope, they normally don't get that old around us. I let a nice 9 point walk 2 years ago, and he came back as an 11 point last year (nice 10 with a kicker). I still wanted him to grow a little more, since he was still a little small. Well, the new guy on our place shot him a week later. I would have let my son shoot him as his first buck, but he was not for me. I wish we could let the younngish bucks grow up to full potential, but it won't happen.

Yes.

Have never passed one to get bigger that went down. We have passed many to get bigger that were never seen again and were unable to kill some that went down. My dad shot a buck last year we really don't know how old he was but definitely old. We tried to kill him as a big 9pt for 2 years and he came back the next year with a healed over injury next to no teeth and was a regular at the feeders. We finally got him and he was definitely much smaller rack and lost a lot of body mas from previous years also.

Or sometimes other things have occurred like the drought we had a few years ago and they just weren't as good then.

Don't forget injury or sickness.

Yes, I've watched some big ones I thought weren't quite peak go downhill.

Letting bucks get mature is goal #1. I won't dispute that at all. But I think sometimes we let perfect ("ohhhhh, I can't tell if he's 4.5 or 5.5...") get in the way of good enough, especially on low fence ranches. A 4.5 deer in a really good year may be as big as he's going to get. Plus, he may be a year or two older than you think.

^^^^^
No question about it, ETB. If I don't know a deer's history, I always favor the ranch in aging decisions. That means missing out on some deer when they're actually at their peak.

Yep I have seen it several times. The one time that really sticks out in my mind was a 3 year old main frame 10 with 5 extra kickers and stickers making him a 15 point. I passed on him and the next year at 4 he was just a clean 10. The following year at 5 years old he became a clean 9 point and I took him that year. I cant explain why he started down hill after 3 years old but he did.

oh yeah......

it happens - but the vast majority improve rather than decline. our motto is "a dead deer has never added another inch of horn"

I figured I'd get some interesting stories about letting some stud 4 yr olds walk just to encounter them the next season with a broken main beam or injury during velvet. I guess that's just the chance you have to take to grow big deer. Hasn't happened to me yet but I'm sure it will at some point.

I had a large 6 we wanted to get rid of 2 years ago. Saw him last day of the season with a great buck I was giving another year, and didn't want to shoot with that deer in my pen. Next year the big 6 was an 8, not that great a rack, but he was pushing 275 lbs. I had a shot at him last year late, but didn't take him and I was hoping he would be good this year, but he got sick and looks pretty bad. may be 150lbs and rack is much smaller.
I never did see that good deer again.
I took a 10 last year I let go for 2 years, but he didn't improve, so I took him.

we have an old buck that we have pics of for years and we think he is now around 12-13 years old. He peaked at around age 9 or 10 - still a good buck but has slowly dropped off each year -

The weather can go to heck in a handbasket for a long time, if it turns dry and hot for a long time, it will hurt the deer.

Ya'll ever gonna take him or just let him spread his seed around?

You think there's an age where bucks stop mating?

Interesting, I have a friend that had a doe that had fawns till she was 14 years old, and we have several does that have fawns at 9 and 10 years old.
I have always wondered how long bucks would continue to breed.