Past on this "cull" last year.

I took the safety off twice last October, but held off not having seen this deer before. We aged him at 2.5 and although he was only a six, he had better main beams and g2's than others in the age class, so he got the pass. First pic was Jan 2016, much improvement this year, still weak brows, but I'm going to give him the pass again this year and maybe next.. Something about those big 8's..
Low fence hill country..
Think we made the right call?

2016



2017

Yes, I do think you made the right call.

Don't get me wrong, I myself would have culled that one if there was anything with more potential coming around. Those brow tines are a no go on my place.

Yes, and I would make that call again this year if you like big 8s.

If you think he was 2.5 then, you definitely made the right call. He had plenty of frame for a 2.5 particularly if you have heavy deer density. I'd pass him again this year too.

Nope. Look at the hump over his shoulders, his hatchet azz and, if you still don't belive that deer is mature, look at his hocks in photo#1. Immature, even middle-aged bucks don't have staining like that.

He's post mature this year and reverting to a childlike appearance. Just like we do when we're ancient. Your 10 AUG '17 photo leaves no doubt about his age. At least in my pea brain.

Look at the dip between his antlers and the busted up, healed a dozen times face. Young deer have neither of those traits. THAT makes him...

"THE WINNER"

I like a big 8. If he is better than the average 3 year old 8's in your area I would let him ride. He made a nice jump this year but age 4 should tell you a lot more. Cull from the bottom.

I understand your thought process. That first pic is deceiving IMO., but with him adding 15+ Inches this year, I'm convinced he's not on the decline...maybe I'm wrong.

He hasn't shed velvet yet and the two '17 pictures are much closer to the camera than the older ones, he really don't look much different to me.

Except he has G3's this year.. added a little to the mains, width and mass. I'll see if I can grab a pic this weekend out of velvet..

He went from a 6 to an 8 with basically the same frame. I don't think he really added mass. He'll still look very think once he sheds velvet.

I don't think you really gained a whole lot, but he's a pretty deer. It's not really making a statement either way.

Ill blame poor pic quality, I didn't notice he was just a six in the first set. I would have busted him last year and this years pictures is my reasoning for why.

I think it was right

I will say this about my personal experiance/experiments with culling.


I let far, far more deer walk than I should have, than ones that I shot and shouldn't have.

You are getting fooled by his width imo. He has no brow tines and will be a thin horn deer.

Depends on where you are hunting on my hill country lease that buck is a dandy and my kids or wife would be happy to take him. On the ranch he would get shot withought a second thought

If you are a smaller to mid size low fence ranch I would do whatever you want in all honesty it won't make a difference either way unless you just want to get a mouth off the place

I agree with this. In reality, while folks have a lot of fun and put a lot of energy into discussions like this, free-range "culling" is doing only one thing: getting a mouth off the place.
Lots of overthinking going on too: he's a younger buck growing up and adding antler. That's pretty obvious.

I probably should have added that we're not over populated, in fact, we've been rebuilding going on 7 years now. A 140 class deer would be a big deal around here.. most mature bucks are mid 120's-130.

That deer is old .....Plug him.....

Aright, y'all want to see an old deer? I chased him for 3 years.. never sealed the deal.

I like letting the 3 yr. old bucks walk, however you said a 140" buck would be a big deal on your ranch, keep in mind he will most likely breed several does passing on his genetics. Just food for thought regarding your management plan.

What do his peers look like?

How are you still rebuilding for 7 Years? Our property was decimated by overhunting the first year we had it we saw 3 deer total, we sat out shooting for 2 years and had over cc going into year 3 by surveys.

That must have been a long few years

We kept a lease in Kendal Co. till our population was rebuilt enough to hunt, never let em rest!

Same but id shoot him if you want a better deer i dont see him gaining anything else

One more year if you can

Lots and lots of pressure on two sides. Won't get into it but we have to adjust our harvest goals because the surrounding pastures.

We're in western Coryell county. I wouldn't consider this prime hill country with big numbers to begin with.

14 bucks on my camera this weekend and would consider all to be management bucks. Not one single deer has me excited.. no sign of that 8.

Our focus has been extremely conservative since the beginning shooting very few doe and only mature bucks. Establishing age classes and feeding year round. Think we went through 5.5-6 tons of protien this year. I've been on the side of letting deer fully mature to reach max potential most of my life, but the frustration is growing based on our results the past two years.

Here are a few bucks from this past week.







Don't know why they're not showing

In the filed 10/29

You still think he was 2.5 last year and 3.5 now? I've seen deer go down hill after their 5th year and I've seen deer with their best antlers at 9 and 10. Just because the deer added a good bit this year does not mean he isn't post-mature. As I said previously, I would bet money that is an OLD deer. And I mean no offense to you sir, but that is not a deer I would want passing down his genetics.

No offense. I posted to get this kind of feedback. I can't get him to smile, so who really knows.
he sure looked like a 3 yo yesterday and compared to the rest of our 3yo's, he's carrying a much better frame. We're going to let him slide this year and see what he looks like next year. I think 3 years of pics and sightings will tell us what we need to know. That first pic in Jan last year was after the rut. He looked really wore down, maybe even injured or sickly..
Understand we have a lot of 2-3 yo junk that will go this year. Alot of bucks that won't make 120" most likely at the age of 4-5.
We killed a 4 yo 8 this weekend with a base of 81, 6" above the avg from prior years.. but tine length was only 32"..
it's taken time to rebuild the population, but now we're changing the direction and shooting more middle aged culls this year which may be a bigger set back than we anticipated waiting this long.

Here's a 4.5 killed yesterday. 113.875"

I'd a shot the first one and let that one walk.

+1

I would say good call. Deer grow skeleton through the age of 3.5 so 4.5 is the first year that all the bone produced goes to antlers and when you see the first big jump if they are going to make one. He already shows the potential to be better than the deer you posted pics of. Cull from the bottom is what I do. What is worth saving is relative to what is there.