Guess the Age on these 2 bucks
Whitetail Deer
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Play our Aging Contest
Pat Lefemine's Link
Our 2019 Deer Aging contest is now live. Hit the link, look at the photos and videos, and take your best shot. If history is any indicator, most of you guys suck at this. Let's see if you've gotten any better this year! Ha!
Deer one, I say 3.5 as he look pretty young and with genetics up there I would expect a 140 ish at 3.5! Deer two is a NY buck and normally ecsp where Pat has his place it takes at least 4.5 years for a buck to get around 120"s. I added a year and said 5.5. My area of NY is very similar. He may be 4.5 but my gut says 5.5. Shawn
4.5 on first 2.5 on the 2nd.
I'd call buck #1 6.5 based on shoulders, sway back, pot belly and that neck running to the base of his chest.
Buck #2 I'd say is 3.5, his back is still straight he still has that "athlete's" look and his neck diesnt run straight to the base of his chest.
This one appears WAY easier than the last one, so I'm expecting a curve ball. I'm a little worried that my guess falls in the favorite category for both deer :)
3.5 and 5.5. Based strictly on body, not the rack. 1st buck doesn't look to be as thick as those Canadian bucks are when they're over 4yrs old.
2nd buck video is from the summer. Big frame but he's not filled out as much as he will be in Oct.
4.5 and 3.5.
The NY one has a fairly slight body to me. Velvet makes his rack look bigger too... (I know that folks say rack size as an aging tool sucks, but for a "horse shoes and hand grenades" ager like me, it gets me in the area code most of the time so I still consider it) all of that makes me feel like he's still pretty young. I'm using my local deer as a reference given they are also in the north east... And my gut would say 3.5 on him. It seems deer here take a substantial leap year 3 to 4.
The other deer, I waffled between 4.5 and 5.5... But in the end, despite the chest, his body just does not feel as round as I'd suspect he'd look at 5.5. This could be my non Canadian eyes though. It just feels like those big bodied beasts up there would look bigger at 5.5... So... I'm going 4.5.
Buck #1 is in his prime, probably 4.5 - 5.5 years old. Buck #2 is an older buck on the down-hill slide, evidenced by his bony hips and shoulders. He’s probably north of 7 years old.
Matt
This is so much fun knowing the answers and listening to everyone’s rationale for picking the ages. This may be the easiest one yet, or not! ;-)
Grey Ghost I think you nailed it on #2 being on the north side of 7. Looks like an older horse I have. Definitely past his prime.
Stryker here in NY unless that buck is a true freak of nature he is not 2.5. He would be a decent 2.5 in Kansas or Iowa. NY, no way! Shawn
Shawn you are probably right but where I live in Wyoming I think I might be close.
2.5 and 3.5 (but the page with the link didn't allow me to guess anything or have any options to click)
Wow, these guesses are all over the place. Some might think that this sort of variation (by experienced hunters no less) means that age judging on the hoof is useless. Actually, I think that what's really important is that you can compare deer where you are hunting.
Even if all you can do is break the bucks into 3 categories: Young of the Year/ Still Growing/ and Mature. If you target the mature ones, you're improving your herd.
Age doesn't always correlate with antler size. Body type and shape tell you much more. Looking forward to hearing how old these 2 actually are.
For the record; I said #1: 5.5 (mature) and #2: 3.5 (still growing).
#1 buck is 3.5. If he was a human, he would be the equivalent to a 20s something millennial with tattoos running up and down both front legs.......Probably be wearing a flat brim hat as well.
#2 buck is 6.5–7.5. The equivalent to a baby boomer. Looks like his hair is thinning a bit, has kind of a bit of a beer belly thing going on, and looks like he has that “GET OFF MY FOOD PLOT” attitude on his face.
Will we find out at some Point what the answer is
It runs till November 1st
Yep. That’s why the first word in the title of this thread is GUESS.
5 1/2 on Buck 1- slightly grizzled but lacks the swayback of an older buck. This makes me think he’s not young but not old.
Buck 2- sagging back and looks more emaciated. So it’s either a stressed deer post rut or older with less tone. 7.5 is my guess.
Buck 1 - 3.5 Buck 2 - 4.5
Patience boub’ound we’ve been waiting years for your hunt recap
3.5 & 3.5....the Canadian has just spent a little more time in the gym lol.
5.5 3.5 hard to get a buck past 3.5 in New York
We just posted the results on the feature. Finally! You guys did good with 93 people getting both bucks correct. Congrats to everyone that got it right and our 3 winners have been drawn for a free Aging Kit compliments of DeerAge.com.
