I let him walk. Thoughts? No antler restrictions.

Good call, looks 3.5-4yo to me.

Young, good call.

I’d have given him a pass too.

IMO FWIW, That's a 4.5 year old garbage buck all day long. Gut, neck, slope of back 4.5 all day long. No pro by any means, if he's 3.5, that's the fattest 3.5 I've ever seen and junk up top. Even if he's 3.5 I wouldn't keep feeding him

Nothing wrong with letting him walk and putting a doe in the freezer...Nice buck.

He's older than you think with just no strong head gear growth. I would have passed him too but would have no issue taking him either depending on size of ranch, management practices and knowing if other bettter size body/antlers bucks do currently exist.

We only have 98 acres, so I doubt we’ll see him next year. We usually see different bucks every couple of months.

Kinda where I’m at-he’d have been in the truck at my place.

I still have two weeks left of buck season, so I’ll be patient if I don’t get a buck, I’ll get a big doe the last two weeks of the month for meat. We have way too many of those.

I say it looks to me like a very old fellow with small rack. His bottom jaw dropped ...sway back...pot belly...sequencing eyes.. however small neck from old age..lol....brisket dropped a little..His nose has dropped...caring a cane..lol ...on social security. But does have a full rump where usually when they get really old they are thin. However... it is possibly I am wrong as this guy maybe unusual....but I feel I am more right than wrong...lol

I see 3.5 at most. Not enough neck for me to make him 4.5.

And as far as letting him go I say it all depends on where it is at and what the situation is with the deer on that ranch. On some places he'd get a dirt nap without a doubt as a cull deer while on others he may be on the better end of that age class. There is not a one size fits all answer with culling.

3rd game cam pic dated 12/24/2021 over a year ago? if the year date is wrong and it should read 2022 and if that is the same buck, it shows a buck that is at least 4.5 years old..

If it is AR legal, that would make a great first buck for a youngster!

That’s sausage material.

I think he's a good culled. 4.5 and probably not going to get much better.

I decided to take him yesterday.

Shoot whatever you want to that's legal and
allowed on the place you're hunting
If you don't want to, don't shoot

Lol

Did you age his teeth?

Good choice check him out next season.

You mean check him out in the freezer...

just for fun, post a photo of the jawbone (bottom)

I don’t have the ones from this deer, but this one is from last year.

Same. His body is too big to have a rack that small. 2.5 yo deer should have better racks than that.

He fooled me! This is a 3.5 yr. old teeth. This is not the first time..lol

Hard to tell exactly from those pics of the jaw as a straight down view is required to see the wear of the 1st & 2nd molar and be able to tell if the dentine is wider than the enamel line.
But, it probably is judging what I can from the side view.

He was not going to be much better from my experience with 8 points. Probably would have just been a very small (horn wise) mature bully. Shooting him was the right decision. Should have done it before he breeds anything though. Not very good genetics.

Congratulations!