Play and Discuss our Deer Aging Contest
Whitetail Deer
cant wait for some of these experts to be wrong.....neither of these Deer are 3.5....that is laughable
I agree neither are 3.5. You'd have to be out of your mind to think pats kansas buck grew mass like that at 3.5.
Winners will be chosen on 04/01/2011 ?????
i am clearly in the minority but i saw nothing in the body or face that suggested #1 was an older deer. 3.5 seed like obvious choice so it had to be wrong, so I actually went with 2.5... #2 has all the features of an older buck - 5.5 or more, but how much more is hard to guess... 6.5 is as good a guess as any..
Of course - in typical Pat fashion, buck #1 will be 8.5 and buck 2 will be 1.5....
Someone please post a "score this" thread!
The real kicker to this contest is that the deer are from totally different geographic regions. I feel like I'm pretty good at guessing ages of the deer I hunt here in IL, and I'm guessing the KS deer would be similar in body size and features. However, the NY deer puts me at somewhat of a loss when looking for things like how saggy the belly is or how much the brisket area kind of wiggles.
Seems like I'm always wrong when I try to guess ages anyway, so I'm basically just sending up a hail mary on this one...
I am with Jack on both so I put the obvious 3.5 and 5.5
That first deer is older than everyone thinks. I guessed 5.5 for the first.
My guess on the 2nd was 8.5, heavy mass, but the rest of the rack may be on the downhill slide?
I'll be curious as to the results
Bake
Me too, 3.5 and 5.5
Seemed pretty obvious.
Results posted on April first????????? WTH
The NY buck looked older to me with a broad nose and a fairly heavy body. I've never hunted KA or NY, but a guy told me NY was mostly rocky ground, trees and brush. Not the ideal for fast growth. I could be off a mile, but I guessed 7 1/2.
The KA buck has heavy mass and a heavy body, but the nose/head looked younger to me. With the crops in Kansas they can get heavy mass sooner, I guessed 5 1/2, but that might be too old.
Bake - My thoughts exactly, I put the exact same ages.
We send all of our Deer in to be aged and everyone comes back older than we think ....out of about 10 one has never come back younger than we thought....
Fine print in the link says 6/15/14 I think x-man. Any way, my guess, and that's what it was, is #1 at 4 1/2 and the #2 at 6 1/2.
the suspense is killing me!!!!
What really makes it hard is not knowing the background on the properties the deer were taken on.
Public land, or QDM selective harvest extensive deer management?
Were crops left standing for winter feed?
Were mineral supplements available to the deer?
I based my guesses on the assumptions that the NY buck had lesser quality feed throughout the year, even if some crops were available in summer/fall. From what I've heard, NY has poor soil quality, so he got no boost there.
The KS buck was lucky, he had superior food and cover year around, and the natural minerals in the soil gave him all he needed to jumpstart that antler mass.
He likely lived on a large well managed working farm that also provided some food plots, and standing winter crops for feed. Like most large KS farms, they selectively harvest mature deer and cull the mutts.
Even if I'm wrong, it is fun to paint a mental picture of each buck's life.
Those are young deer.....
Buck #2 is going to be younger than most people guessed. Definitely not on the downhill side. With that mass on the bases he would carry that mass on out and be much craggier and not as even if he was 7 or older.
I guessed 5.5 for both deer. Different parts of the country and seemed appropriate from the experience i have hunting both states. But could be wrong for sure!
I can't wait for the results. I've been sending bucks off for cementum since 2008. I've definitely been shocked on a couple of deer. I've sent off 5 bucks, and only been right on two of them.
It definitely makes you rethink your approach to aging. I don't even try too hard to age anymore unless I have multiple year pictures
Bake
I always doubt guys saying"I shot a 4.5yr old buck" or whatever. I think most guys guess age based on rack size and mass.
I killed two bucks that were 8+ and you couldn't tell that they were over 4. One was so old he didn't have hair on his balls on the sides and no hair on his thighs where his balls rubbed. I killed a 6+ that weighed 135 and he looked like a three year old. I just really think it is hard unless you know the history of a buck telling his age is a wild guess at best.
I killed two bucks that were 8+ and you couldn't tell that they were over 4. One was so old he didn't have hair on his balls on the sides and no hair on his thighs where his balls rubbed. I killed a 6+ that weighed 135 and he looked like a three year old. I just really think it is hard unless you know the history of a buck telling his age is a wild guess at best.
I can tell you are going to really enjoy this Pat
I agree with most, I am only confident when I have a history with a deer and photos year over year. I would rather try and guess score of a rack...
It's 06/15 2014. Do we have results yet?
What x-man said. Wanna see how close my SWAG is !
So 6.5 & 8.5... Wow... I can see that 2nd buck being 8.5, I thought at least 6.5 or more... It's the first one that to me - sort of defies what is commonly looked for in a mature buck, such as that swag belly, roman nose, etc. The pictures are deceiving too - that Kansas buck looks over 200 lbs (only 140) and the NY buck looks 150lbs (190).
I think this proves a few things. Unless you have pictorial evidence (year over year) or the certified teeth aging, guessing a deer's age is nothing more than a crap shoot. We are all full of #### :)
I was low by two years on each buck. Makes me wonder if some of the bucks on my place that I have been judging at 3 1/2 are really 4 1/2 . I guess that's better than killing a 2 yr. old thinking it's. a 4 yr. old. Pics don't do me a lot of good 'cause it seems I have a lot of 8 points that just look like every other 8 point. Only have a couple deer unique enough to tell them apart, then some I see for one season and they are gone. The contest was fun nevertheless. What's the next one Pat ?
I can't find the results, but I'm not very computer savvy
No shock here. I guessed 5 1/2 and 8 1/2. They were guesses, but I thought both deer were definitely older than most thought.
I've had several deer aged, and several of them were definitely older than I thought, and all but one I would guess most people would have guessed way younger.
Bake
I had buck one a year too old, and buck two 3 years too young.
I'm most surprised by the weight of the Kansas buck, with hoof weight of only 140. CWD? (just kidding)
I shot a southern MI buck that was aged by the DNR at 10+ yrs, and weighed 247 lbs on a registered scale...field dressed!
Few deer in southern MI ever reach even 5 1/2, but most of them that do will field dress around 200 lbs or more.
I would have thought the food supply for Kansas deer would be similar to southern MI?
I had buck one a year too old, and buck two 3 years too young.
I'm most surprised by the weight of the Kansas buck, with hoof weight of only 140. CWD? (just kidding)
I shot a southern MI buck that was aged by the DNR at 10+ yrs, and weighed 247 lbs on a registered scale...field dressed!
Few deer in southern MI ever reach even 5 1/2, but most of them that do will field dress around 200 lbs or more.
I would have thought the food supply for Kansas deer would be similar to southern MI?
I have always said that the ones who think they can judge age if a live deer are nuts. Once again the TV shows have crated the so called experts at aging an animal and they are all full of it, very funny.
I age by trail cam history. I have found that most bucks are younger then I thought. I just don't get how that kansas deer weighed 140# and was in serious decline. In the pics his muscle tone and bulging thighs, shows that he is in great shape? He looks like any healthy steroid bulging prime buck. FIXED.
I have had several deer aged by DEERAGE.COM. My experience has been that the deer are older than we would guess. In one case in particular a rather small but perfect racked 8 point that we would have guessed at 2 1/2 turned out to be a 4 1/2 year old buck.
I really think past 4 years of age it's extremely difficult to tell. Like Jack Harris said... it's a crap shoot.
I guessed 6.5 for both. So I got one right!
These 2 deer represnet nothing of what I have always read on how to age deer. That old on the older with no sway back and no bulging belly on the younger. Makes no sense based on the experts input.
There are no experts on deer aging. Period. Only the science knows
JH, Obviously you are correct.
Really, past 4.5 in the Midwest, it does not really matter. Bucks are mature and are displaying at least 90% of their genetic potential for antler growth. Very likely more.
