Age ?

I’m thinking 5+. I just filled the feeder & put the camera up Friday evening and he showed up this morning

Probably older than that.

been eating good somewhere.

That is a nice beer gut on that ol boy!

Plenty old

5-6

More than enough. Choot 'em!

Definitely mature, hope you get a chance at him during season.

Tough to tell this time of year but he does have a lotto of neck where it meets the brisket


Fatter than mud and at least 5

Mature maybe leaning post mature. Boom!

Big fat toad, he needs shot.

I want to see a pic of him with his neck all rut swollen!

At least 6-7 in my opinion

Post mature 7+ with a neck and brisket that size in August. Belly line and head show post mature also.

There you go. I, too, was going to comment on the pronounced sternum (ie: brisket).

Here’s a day light pic from this morning

A toad. Shoot the darn thing.

And post a picture of you filling that sewer pipe!

What's in the trashcan?

Glucosamine and Chondroitin

I'm still seeing an extremely well fed mature deer here, 6.5. I'm just not seeing a post mature deer here.

This....

lmao

I am just seeing a very, very well fed mature deer. I don't see the much staining on his hocks like most post mature bucks will carry the year through or any noticeable calluses on the knees.
His face really doesn't look super old to me either.

Of course I've been known to be wrong more than just once.

Not all mature bucks show much staining either. He has no staining so based solely off of that he would be a yearling. Some post mature bucks are not involved in the rut anymore.

I’m NOT at all saying that buck has any staining but I am saying that colors/lighting/pic quality etc can sometimes be very deceiving.
The pics below I took last year I had the settings all wrong on my camera on a real damp day. The two bucks some would say showed black all down their legs but in reality with my naked eyes and binos they didn’t look like that. The one buck was killed and had NO stained hock at all much less down his leg and that was unusual. He also scored 160 and doesnt look it in pics at all(be careful of pics.)
I would apologize for the crummy pics, but that’s the point of my post.
Of course, the OPs pics would have to be the opposite to apply, with them being so washed out.

Aging velvet deer in summer

He ain't less then 5 is about as good as it gets with out history.

With that said I bet he is a very healthy post prime 7.5. That rump is degenerate IMO. It shows up well in the bok and white photos, but again summer makes aging unknown deer almost impossible out side mature or not



OP -true old trophy right there, I hope he slips up for you

Im sure there are countless management plans that call for more precision than what we do and as many or more folks who are better at aging deer than I/my clan is. That said for our purposes and LF hunting on property too small to even hope to contain the deer their entire life....

For a one year spotting he appears to be what I would call mature + or 5.5+ and is a shooter. If he is a deer we have watched from year to year his whole life and we have history with and a solid idea of his real age we may or may not give a pass due to broken tines, drought, last day of the season etc.

lmao

But, I was not basing what I think solely off the lack of staining either.

There is no doubt that aging deer on the hoof is not an exact science any time.
The only sure what to know is to have history year after year with the animal I guess.

Freerange, very good info for sure on the lighting and other factors.
Any idea on the age of these two.
Both look mature to me and off the one picture of each I'd all the top one 6.5+ and the bottom one 5.5.

You found a summer velvet aging thread funny...yet. you just gave an in depth reply on aging this buck. Do as I say not as I do..

ILUV, you asked about their ages. I dont want to derail the thread but they were both on my age and score threads over the last couple years. Not sure I know how to post links to them. The 8 pt had threads from 2019 and 2020. Everyone thought he was plenty old in 2019 and again in 2020. He went way down in antler but several deer went down in antler from 2019 to 2020 out there. The other buck most said was 6 or 7. Between two leases we have 31 sets of teeth at the lab to be aged and results should be back any day. Even the lab isnt near 100% and we are still evaluating the labs ages based on our history and opinion.

Used the 4 wheeler this time….

Mature deer stick em'