Age this one!

[Goose]

I had this guy come in perfect to a decoy a couple of nights ago and passed on him due to his head gear or lack there of. Whats your guess on his age???

[Goose]

Sorry about the size, cant get it to work like I want

[buckhunter21]

Goose, I'm guessing 3.5 prob. at the minimum.  He's no 2.5 year old with that body, and with that head he looks like he could be older.  Good question!

[Gafrage]

I'm guessing a 2.5 year old.  It appears he must have had some damage to his antlers when the antlers were growing.  Causing the lack of headgear.  Based on the belly coming up near his rump, thickness of neck that's how old I think he is.  The "spike" on his right, I believe is what his brow tine would be right now if the rest of his rack wouldn't have gotten busted.  Maybe he got hit by a car earlier this year or something.  He has pretty thick bases on busted off antlers.  Who knows what his antlers would look like right now, if he actually did get hit by a car.  So with all of that to think about, I think he's no older than 2.5 years old.  But he did get hit by a car or something else when his antlers were growing.  Or perhaps he got his butt kicked after his antlers were out of velvet, there is that chance, just looks like they were busted a while ago, from what I can see.


The face is too compact for me to believe it is any older than 2.5 years old.


Edit:  JPH, I'll arm wrestle you!  If I win, it's 2.5 years old, if you win, it's whatever you want it to be!
Even if it is 3.5 years old, this buck is going to be a monster next year.  Like the old saying goes "You should see what the other guy looks like!"  That's the truth in this one I think.

[JPH]

I'm going with 3.5.

Legs look long but his belly is full and his neck is very thick at the base.

[Goose]

Im going with 3.5 based off of his front end being pretty full, tarsal staining, and I thought his head was pretty good sized. ????

[Jawbone]

I would say it's a healthy 2.5 except for the rack being broke.  Just doesn't have the body length and those filled out body features.  I like to hold out for 3.5's but if this guy came by with a full rack I think he would have gotten it!!!

[schlupis]

I would have to say he is a solid 2.5 yr old he doesnt have the sag in his belly his legs look a bit long he is not very full in the chest area either.. this is a great deer but I dont think he is 3.5 he just looks young. Also what is left of his rack doesnt look to have very much mass to it which in personal experience deer start getting a lot more mass on their rack when they hit that 3.5 yrs of age... He is all broken up because he probably met up with a 3.5 yr old that kicked his butt.. LOL