opening day buck

[dremarquis]

Hi all,

 

My dad took me fishing my entire childhood, but he wasn't a hunter. I began deer hunting when i was 25, and i've always hunted solo. Thus, i am not the most skilled or successful deer hunter. In the past 17 years, i have taken 41 deer, and this is probably my best to date (i have others with longer tines, or wider, but something about this one is really cool to me). It feels like quite an accomplishment because i got it on state lands. I had put a climber up the day before way back in a swampy area and i think other hunters pushed him my way. Got him at 1:30, after having sat in stand since 6am. Does anyone have a sense of his age?

 

thanks,

 

dre

Edited November 19, 2014 by dremarquis

[rbonnell]

Congrats on the deer but pics will help if u want to know th he age

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[dremarquis]

oops, i thought the pic was attached. it is now

 

thanks,

 

dre

[bondouley]

Looks to be 3.5 or 4.5 hard to tell from pic

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[bondouley]

Deffenitly a good one. Good job buddy!

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[Sk8man]

Nice going Dre. beautiful buck....I'm thinking three yrs.

[Guppy35]

Nice buck, i'm also thinking 3.5 years old

[Diversion]

Nice shooting

[Legacy]

[Jersey Len]

My guess he is 31/2 yrs

By the way don't sell yourself short, taken 41 deer in 17 years ain't to bad in my book.

Conradulations on a nice Buck

Len

[hawkeye625]

Looks to be 3.5 to 4.5 yr old.  Very nice buck either way.  Congrats, and way to stick out the day...some of my best deer came between 12.30 and 1.30 in the afternoon, I think they get bumped when other guys head to lunch!

[TileMan Dan]

Nice trophy that you should be very proud of.

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[Frogger]

Great Deer! The best way to know is to get it aged with the lower jaw as I'm sure you know. Lots of tImes if you have it a butcher DEC will stop by and some aging and leave the age on your carcass tag. You can also ask for one of the lower jaws back so you can age it later. It will never change. Pictures are tough and can be misleading to age from what I've seen unless you have points to reference . I've also seen many deer before aging surprise the heck out of me. Based on averages from what I remember, bases measured of the antlers avg 20-30mm for 2 1/2 and 30-40 mm for 3 1/2. Greater than 40mm was always a sight and pushed the 4 1/2 mark. An easy tip to see if it's a 2 1/2 is to reach your finger and rub the back of the last molar. If that cusp is pointy it's a 2 1/2 if it's rounded and dull it's a 3 1/2. Again way to go! Hope it helps.

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[ssafran21]

Dre! Great looking deer! Looks like 3.5-4.5 in my opinion. Congrats you Texas transplant!

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[CaptainEyes]

Congratulations on a nice deer! The only factual aging of a deer is by its teeth. Antlers will never provide you an accurate deers age. I have seen deer that are 5.5 that you swear we're only 2.5 and vice versa. You can learn to age them on the hoof by studying their stomach sway and shoulders. I will provide you with a guess on this deers age of 2.5 but I could be wrong if you get him mounted your taxidermist should be able to accurately age him if not their are places you can send the jaw to.

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[ray koziatek]

thanks Capt..The teeth are the only accurate tool..for ageing..............well without going forensic..

depending on food i would give it 2.5 to 3.5

[dremarquis]

Thanks everyone!

 

dre

[Giz9219]

Nice buck!i would say 2-1/2 years old,looks like he was around 140 lbs?

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