How old is this deer?
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: c5ken
18-Dec-24
How old do you guys think this deer is? Some believe all little bucks should be culled. I think a deer needs to be about 3 yrs old before you know true antler size.
From: c5ken
18-Dec-24
Oops additional pictures didn't load
From: Bou'bound
18-Dec-24
7 mos
From: greg simon
18-Dec-24
Looks like an early fawn to me. So 7-8 months.
From: bowelk65
18-Dec-24
18 month's let it grow!!
From: c5ken
18-Dec-24
I let all the little bucks walk on my land. Just curious regarding age of spikes. I have several handing around...
From: Supernaut
18-Dec-24
If it was here in PA, I'd say that 11 point was 12-18 months old. Just a little fella.
From: Charlie Rehor
18-Dec-24
A folded dollar bill is 3” which was the legal minimum for a Buck in Pennsylvania rifle season (circa 1980).
This deer comes up a bit short. He’s called a “devil” Buck or “11” pointer. 18 months old.
From: midwest
18-Dec-24
1.5
From: Aspen Ghost
18-Dec-24
I've always figured those little spike bucks were born very, very late in the previous summer. One of those fawns who might have still had spots well into last fall. So maybe now he's finally 15 months old or so. He doesn't necessarily have inferior antler genetics. He just isn't very old, the other typical yearlings are just 3 or 4 months older than him, so maybe 20% older. Those months just make a big difference in the first couple years of life. Give him time and who knows what he could turn into. Could be a monster in 4 years.
From: t-roy
18-Dec-24
19 months
From: c5ken
18-Dec-24
Yep who knows what a 1.5 yr old spike can turn into.
The buck lives in S/E Michigan...
From: Bowaddict
18-Dec-24
Never understood culling spikes, read a study done on spikes a while back. Can’t remember from where , but the multi-year study proved many spikes “catch up” to other 1.5 yr olds by years 2 or 3. Basically pointless to cull them, you don’t know what genetics they carry…..1.5
From: sawtooth
18-Dec-24
I don't shoot them simply because that is not what I am hunting. This is a young deer, no idea what he will turn in to.
From: cnelk
18-Dec-24
Old enough to breed
From: 12yards
18-Dec-24
Yearling or 1.5 years old.
From: Lost Arra
18-Dec-24
Is "culling" still a point of discussion concerning deer herds?
From: Trying hard
18-Dec-24
1 1/2 years old...
From: wildan2
18-Dec-24
1.5 year old late fawn from last year.Note;I watched a "button buck"breed a doe(twice) a couple years ago.Kind of funny,he fell off after and the doe turned around to look,thinking wat a stud! t
From: Corax_latrans
18-Dec-24
Not young of the year. Somewhere between 1 and 2.
From: c5ken
18-Dec-24
I agree, I think he's 1.5...
Next - how old do you this freak is?
From: SD
18-Dec-24
SD's Link
If interested MSU Deer Lab Buck Harvest Strategies Series has some pretty good info. A buck isn't going to reach 80% of it's potential until it's 3.5yrs old. It's a steep curve going up to that from the younger ages, which makes it really difficult to judge what a buck will turn into before he's 3.5.
Linked is part 3 of the series because I think it fits this thread the best, but the whole series is a good watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYDUJX48TaM
From: milnrick
18-Dec-24
The first buck is a buck fawn, less than 1 yr old. One look at the short stubby nose tells everything you need to know.
The big buck I'd say is at least 4.5, the base of his neck doesn't run to the bottom of the brisket (still shows a small break or notch. I could be wrong though.
From: Supernaut
18-Dec-24
I’ll take a SWAG and say that buck is 3.5
I could be very wrong on my guess but I do know that’s a nice buck IMO.
From: Genesis
18-Dec-24
Most spikes are just late dropped 1.5 year old bucks and typically will be caught up by 3 1/2 and once older can reach full potential.
From: APauls
18-Dec-24
I remember Don Higgins saying that even on his deer farm he only had one exception of a buck fawn having any antlers at all before it's first winter and I think they were like a half inch or something of exposed bone. Buck fawns do not grow antlers. Spikes are 1.5 year old deer. Granted that is my memory but I'd bet a bottle of whiskey on it.
Now he also had a spiker that was like 160" by the time it was 3.5 years old. He is also a proponent of leaving all bucks until 3.5 before you determine what it may or may not be one day. I think he's a good source for this kind of thing having spent more time in the whitetail woods than 99% of hunters AS WELL AS having had a deer farm where you could watch and isolate variables with deer under ideal conditions.
From: Al Dente Laptop
18-Dec-24
About 1.5 years. Some buck fawns will get little nubs, I have felt them on deer in Woodloch, PA, where they are practically tame. No hunting pressure, I have fed them apples from my hand, while petting them.
From: Will
18-Dec-24
My neck of the woods, it's a small 1.5YO. Probably conceived late.
From: Iowa booner hunter
18-Dec-24
In Illinois and Iowa buck fawns do grow antlers, we call them button bucks and they have little nubs that shed just like any other antler. That buck is probably a yearling
From: Zbone
18-Dec-24
December,,, 19 months...8^)
From: bigswivle
18-Dec-24
Love those 11 points
From: Iowa booner hunter
18-Dec-24
A yearling buck is older than 1 but younger than 2. He has his second set of antlers, the buttons when he is a fawn are considered antlers
From: Saphead
18-Dec-24
Aspen Ghost X2
From: c5ken
19-Dec-24
Better pic . He is now MIA
From: c5ken
19-Dec-24
Think he's 4.5??
From: arlone
19-Dec-24
Body looks young to me. I would agree either an early fawn this year or late fawn from last year? Either way, you do not know what he will grow up to be.
From: Murph
19-Dec-24
Young enough age is irrelevant..
