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Aging Bucks

Watching a video today got me thinking? The guy was hunting a new place he's never hunted . He had an 8 point he passed a few times. He says I decided to pass him because he's not old enough he's 4.5 years old. How would anyone know how old a deer is unless it had a distinguishing feature and they had years of history with that deer? Way to many deer biologists hunting today.

Fact is… you can’t. There are some things to look for, but they are all guesstimates. Ive watched bucks age from 2 to 7+. I have pics and video somewhere of a buck I know was older than 7 and his body looked like a 4 year old, unfortunately his rack always looked like a 2 year old:-)

I think it’s pretty easy up to 3, but after that it’s very difficult. But I’ve been wrong on that before as well.

I try very hard (sometimes too hard) to shoot bucks that are 5+. However, when a buck comes in you’ve never seen before that is fully mature, you make mistakes.

I go by the, if there is no doubt in your mind once you see the deer shoot it!

There were deer hunters killing big bucks long before there were biologists.

It's good to have an idea of how old a buck is if you're into shooting older deer.

There is a guy on here claiming to be a biologist that makes the dumbest statements I've ever read, rarely shoots a big buck, and his best friend rarely shoots a big buck despite using corn and owning several hundred acres of prime deer 'habitat'..

Just a few of my observations.

There was,"what I thought was a very good article", a very good article in one of the hunting magazines this past fall on aging deer by a well know writer. I think it was comparing visually looking at the body and tooth wear versus sectioning the tooth I can't find the article or remember the writer, but he went on about how most hunters miss the age by a lot, if they don't have a real history with the deer. Maybe someone else can find the article?

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