Small Deer
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Cornpone
09-Dec-22
My buddy killed a buck last night that we judged to be, most likely, a 3 YO based upon the rack. Anyhow, it was only 135 FD. We all like to get big bucks but what are some weights of the smallest known age bucks you've gotten?
From: DanaC
09-Dec-22
A friend shot a spikehorn (1.5 yo) some years back that dressed out at 78 lbs. This was in Vermont. Smallest legal 'buck' I ever saw.
There were some 'good' deer in that area but also a strain of runty little mice-deer ;-)
From: spike78
09-Dec-22
I shot an 8 point basket rack that I estimated at around 130 pounds.
From: Charlie Rehor
09-Dec-22
He likely lost 30% of his body weight in the last 6 weeks so add that amount to your current weight.
From: Grey Ghost
09-Dec-22
I agree with Charlie. All the mature bucks in my area look like greyhounds right now. It's amazing what they put their bodies thru during the rut.
Matt
From: PushCoArcher
09-Dec-22
Location has a ton to do with it. I've hunted around Austin Texas where 130lb-150lb for a mature buck is about normal. Buddies Texas buck a few years back was a 4 year old 130+ inch was 111lb field dressed. Bergmann's rule the further you get from the equator the larger animals become. I would also think like how there's tall and short or skinny and fat people deer probably have similar variety.
From: WV Mountaineer
09-Dec-22
My personal experience is if a guy says his deer field dressed 175 pounds, it likely dresses a 130lbs. If he says 200, the real weight is probably 145-150.
The only way a person knows for sure is to weigh their animals. Which I’ve done a lot of. And, a 3.5 year old deer here is going to field dress a135-150 pounds if he’s pre rut. But, the 200 pounders abound thick according to 90% of hunters.
we weighed an 11 point, mid 130’s class deer that my buddy killed. It tipped the scale at a whopping 111 pounds.
From: George D. Stout
09-Dec-22
In the 60's, 130# would have been a pretty nice buck as far as size goes here in Pennsylvania.
From: Shuteye
09-Dec-22
In my garden I am seeing five different bucks. a couple spikes are small but two of the larger ones will go close to 200 pounds. I let them go to shoot a doe that had two fawns and she was close to 130 pounds. Here they have plenty of food and are really enjoying the honeysuckle around my garden. That is wheat cover crop in my garden and the pictures are from my ground blind. I can watch all day from my house that is 50 yards from my ground blind. The even come out in the pouring rain. I have all the deer I want in my freezer and just enjoy watching them now.
From: greenmountain
09-Dec-22
The smallest legal buck taken from my friends was a 66 pound spikehorn. This was around 1973 when we were rebounding from a long time of taking bucks only. It is ironic that we frown on taking does and small bucks but can't find a way to improve carrying capacity.
From: APauls
09-Dec-22
Smallest racked buck I ever killed was a few years ago was a 2.5 8 pt I was guessing but he only weighed 145FD.
From: fuzzy
09-Dec-22
I killed a "dwarf" buck in the mid 90s, 3.5 year old, muscular, sag belly, rut neck, 5 point rack, typical body fat for rutting buck. 75 pounds live weight
From: Swampbuck
09-Dec-22
3yrs ago got a 4.5 yr old , 168 LW. This yr got a 3.5 yr old 162 LW, both 8s, so dressed I’m guessing 120s witch is good for FL. We had one several years ago that went 176 LW, 5.5 yrs
From: fuzzy
09-Dec-22
Swampbuck those are normal weights in my area
From: Cheesehead Mike
09-Dec-22
This Missouri buck only field dressed 145#
From: Philbow
10-Dec-22
If you really want small deer hunt the Georgia coastal Islands. Ossabaw is the most fun, Sapelo is probably the easiest to get picked and Blackbeard for the traditionalist.
From: RT
10-Dec-22
From: Shuteye
10-Dec-22
My wife said the first Sika stag I killed wasn't as big as my German Shephard dog.
From: Franzen
11-Dec-22
I thought my deer this year had a small body. I guessed it as a 3.5 year old, weighing around 140-150 field dressed, but I did not weigh him. The one I shot in 2020 was 215 (thinking 4.5, but not verified), and yes it was weighed. Having said that, 2020 was beginning of season, and 2022 was rut time.
From: Cheesehead Mike
11-Dec-22
Off the top of my head I've killed about 10 bucks that field dressed over 200# (including a 255# & 233#) but my biggest racked buck weighed 174# in late November, very thin and worn down from the rut.
From: RD
11-Dec-22
I shot a 1 1/2 yr old buck the night before Thanksgiving that should have weighed 135-145 but came in at 120. Absolutely no fat on him, guess he had been running hard, I weigh every deer I shoot.
From: 8point
11-Dec-22
Bow killed a fork horn one year that dressed 147. Shot a doe 4 weeks later in gun season that dressed 145. Rifle killed a 10 point this year that dressed 145, not an ounce of fat, but lots war wounds.
From: Corax_latrans
12-Dec-22
My first deer, ever, was a button buck that went #90 on the scale, dressed out. A few years later, one of the guys in our camp got his first deer, which went over #230 after hanging for 5 days in a damn cold wind. Out there in northern MN, a typical 2.5 YO would dress at #185. I think one big, old doe went #165, dressed.
Out here in CT, the biggest doe I’ve shot was #140, on the hoof. Or so my bathroom scale would have me believe. Biggest buck out here was not as big as a typical MN 2.5 - or at least his hide didn’t finish out as big, but compared to the rest of my CT deer, he was a whopper.
From: Huntiam
12-Dec-22
Run down from the rut ..
From: W
12-Dec-22
Shot a Mississippi “doe” while still hunting with a muzzleloader. After the smoke cleared, she was on the ground, but something was holding the top of her head up. Our club rule was three point or better. I was disgusted I had killed a spike. On closer inspection, it was a very small three point rack. No fine for me. Live weight was 106 pounds.
