I was needing help with aging deer and posted on a forum on pressured deer.com. Greg Skufca provided this as some guidance 1 1/2 year olds are easy. Small bodies narrow antlers. antlers don’t go out past eyes. 2 1/2 still small sleek bodies. antlers can be out to ears but typically extend out to eyes. 3 1/2 good size bodies look like a strong stallion in its prime. Neck still separate from shoulders. Antlers will be out to ears and about 13 to 14 wide. Antlers will extend out between eyes and end of nose. 4 1/2 Large heavy bodies. Neck now blending into shoulders. Antlers outside ears 17-18 inch spread. Antlers extending out to or near end of nose. 5 1/2 and older Heavy bodies and fatter look. Neck and shoulders one solid look. Legs looking shorter for buck. Sway back. Antlers well outside ears 18 to 20 inches wide. Antlers extend out to end of nose with long beams.
Thanks that is definitely helpful. I have been reading up on the subject but I like to double check my opinions by seeing what smarter people think
Things also depend on the time of year. During the end of the rut, after bucks have lost a good deal of weight, it is more difficult to tell. Also, sometimes when food sources change or run out, it can affect the look of the older bucks. I think it is easier to tell a 2 1/2 year old from a 3.5+ year old than it is to tell their age as they get older.
A buck like that is gonna get mauled by thge orange army, unless he is on private land there is a strong chance that's about as big as he is getting! Good luck to you getting him!
You got that right. This is a fair sized piece of private land but even so I doubt if any of our neighbors would pass on this deer in PA so his existence might end up hanging by a thread after Thanksgiving.
I’m going to say that deer is 3.5 or 4.5. His belly and hams are too big for him to be a 2.5 yr old deer. More pictures would help. I’d also tell you that any advice about age estimating whitetail bucks that says anything at all about antler spread is pretty much worthless. For sure most 1.5 year old bucks are somewhere between a spike and a basket rack with probably no more than a 12” spread. However once a buck reaches even 2.5 he may have an 18-20” inside spread. On the flip side there are literally thousands and thousands of 5+ yr old deer walking around with 12-15” inside spreads. Antler spread would have no more correlation to age than antler color. Just about everything you can use to judge the age of a buck based upon his antlers will be evident in the first few inches out of his head. How big is the pedicle? Do his bases have a lot of knobs and bumps and ridges? Those can be decent indicators on whether a deer is young (1.5-3.5) or older but won’t really help you much beyond that. You have to focus on the body size and shape and the head/nose. A better picture of how that deer's neck blends into his brisket in front of his shoulders would help. Anyway... good luck getting him if he’s your target buck even if you are hoping that he makes it another year.
Just a question due to inexperience. But why do we always 1/2 years. Everyone guess 2.5,3.5,4.5. Why not by 2,3,4? Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Fawns are born in the spring therefore they would be 1/2 year old in the fall. So a deer will always be 2.5, 3.5, etc. in the fall because they were born in the spring.
