I started getting pics of this guy mid-summer last year and thought he was a solid 3 year old. As the season progressed and velvet came off, and I saw him on the hoof a few times while hunting, I figured out he was a great looking 2 year old. Sometimes the rack can be deceiving, however looking at his body, neck, and how he acted around other deer it became apparent he was a young deer. We never found his sheds but I figured him right in the 125-128" range as a 9 point.
He's stuck around this summer and looks to be packing on some mass. Not sure where he'll end up for tine length as he's got a month or so left to grow but he's looking like he'll finish out into the 140's as a 10 point this year. I'm hoping he makes it one more year! We have a bad tendency for our good 3 year olds to get killed by neighbors or hit by cars on this farm. Be careful, Quagmire! I need you to live another year so I can kill you when you're bigger.
Sorry man, but any 150+ 4 year old that walks within shooting range is getting an arrow sent his way. Maybe some day I'll have the sac to pass a deer like that. Until then.... Also, the probability of a nice 2 year old making it to 5+ in this area is pretty darn small. Seems like most of them end up dead. 3 year old - dead, killed by neighbor. 3 year old - dead, hit by car. This is after he was shot by 2 hunters as a 2 year old and survived both times. This one still stings. He was gonna be my #1 this year. 2 year old - dead, hit by car. 5 year old - MIA since Sept. 2015. 4 year old - killed by Mike Willand (DukeMichaels) in 2014 5 year old - dead, most likely hit by car.
Not this year he's not. Him and one other buck are the only 3 year olds on the farm. If we kill them now we'll have nothing to hunt in the future. As of today there's only 2 bucks on this farm that will be old enough for us to shoot this fall and both are MIA. One since mid December and one since January. Keeping the fingers crossed they show up in the next couple weeks now that I have a dozen cameras out.
I like the way you think and wished others had the same mindset but such is life. Good luck finding your MIAs.
Awesome! I don't have a problem passing 2 year olds, but 3 is another story. My goal is to not shoot any that are younger than a 4 year old. After 4 you don't see as big of a jump as you do from 2-3 and 3-4 imo.
I have to say, 150' 4 year old would get shot at by me as well. We don't shoot anything less than 4 years old on our lease. Science says that bucks put on 30-40% of their antler potential between 4.5 and 5.5 years old, but it's hard to pass big 4 year olds!
I agree with you Daryl. In a perfect world if I had a large, intensely managed farm, a substantial amount of time to hunt and a plethora of 150's on my wall I'd love to wait until they turned 5 to go after them. However that's just not my world! When they hit 4 it's go time.
I agree, it's hard to get them to 5 of small leases with a lot of surrounding hunting pressure. 4 is my shooting age also.
Big 3yr Olds are still hard for me to pass. I can still count mountable deer I've killed on one hand. I try not to let that cloud my judgement. My goal is still a 4 yr old or better. Let two 3 yr Olds walk year b4 last that were around 120-125. It was tough. That's a nice looking buck hope you connect and get a nice kill shot for the show.
Holy smokes, you must hunt in a high traffic area. So are you ready to pass a 150+ 3 yr. old? I think he'll make it a tick over 150, judging by last years tine length.
Couple updated pics of this guy. I'm secretly hoping I don't get him in shooting range this year so I don't have to put my will to let him live to the test.
