A pic from my trail cams last "August". I'd like to hear your thoughts on his age. This is a mountain whitetail, lives in the big timbered forests and feeds in logging clearcuts. Throw in a weight guestimate as well... on the hoof..
Lol!! Being everyone Is getting technical I'll say at the time of the picture he's 4 years and 2 months old, 210lbs dressed.
Exactly Jeff, he is definately in his thin neck stage, I saw this buck in November of 09 still alive and well, his neck was twice the size and his shoulders and hips are big. He's actually a fairly long deer too. I have a couple profile photos of his rack that will surprise you versus this straight on photo, I will load those up tonight after work. I think hes pushing 240 to 250lbs on the hoof and is at least 4.5 as well. Definately a 5.5 year old this coming season if he made the winter. I am for the first time tomorrow getting into his area to look for his sheds. Finishing up a little work here at school and then off for spring break. Thanks to all you gurus for your input you are a great asset. I'd like to kill this buck next fall, weigh him and have him aged to see how close we are. He's definately a buck I am gonna hunt hard, especially if I find his sheds in the next month or so or see him again on trail cameras and or in the summer scouting.
I love you guys.. but 4 year olds don't have bellies in August. Especially mountain climbing ones.. he's pushing more in age.. maybe much more.
I hope you saw my wink.:d No doubt what you say does make sense. However, mountain animals are built allot different I think. Maybe I'm way off on what I think being I haven't hunted whitetails much out there. I'll have to keep In mind on what you said about 4 year olds not having bellies In August here In the Midwest or close to the Midwest. I guess I always would've figured they would have bellies at that age. See, good things come out of these age threads.:d
Actually its not uncomman for a buck that regularly feeds in clearcuts to be extremely fat/potbellied in the summer. I've watched, videoed and killed bucks from 2 years old to 9 year olds that are all fat/popbellied in the summer. I have hours and hours of summer video of every age class buck you can imagine that are fat! Where you can really break down a bucks age here is in his skeletal structure' saggy spine, big fully developed skullplate (width between his bases on his antlers), hvy shoulders and hind quarters, a lot like watching a horse mature over the years. The timeframe that I witness the bucks in this country skinny is from about November 15th to April before they start fattening up ...depending on how long and hard the winter is of course...Clearcuts are often mis-understood, because not all logging practices mandate the same pratices when it comes to clearcutting... Here combines very wet logging country and practices that mandate the burning and replanting of all clearcuts; which creates a huge foodplot in most instances. These cuts range from 20/30 acres up to 200-300 hundered acres and they produce a massive amount of various high protein based plants that normally wouldnt germinate without the intense heat of a prescribed burn. I was talking to the Core of Engineers head Elk Habitat guy and he explained to me that without the burns some of the elk and deer best options for vegetation would be nill if it wasnt for the burning..that the burning was the key to germination. So the feed out here during the months of May/June through Nov for mountainous country is amazing. Its all due to the logging.
He sure does have a nice rack on him Troy, his beams are longer then I thought from the other picture.
yeah hes got good mains.. not really tall.. decent mass ...velvet always makes em look hvier but a lot of times night time photos thin them down a bit.. too.. I'd say hes a solid 140 class type buck ...what I like best about him is that hes so freegin nocturnal and careful, wont even come to the water hole till after midnight in the middle of summer before hunting season! LOL
I hunt a good bit of hill country bucks... Not the same breed as mountain bucks I am sure but here is my take. I see a 4 year old animal in the photo. He has good muscle structure but looks like his body has yet to fill in some. He is lacking the woren in old buck look to me. I would put live weight in the 240 range on him. Great looking buck, best of luck!
I'm putting in my guess at 4 1/2 years old. I'm with Buckeye in that I believe he's got some filling out to do yet, despite the fact that it's summer his neckline isn't meeting his chest quite deep enough, and he's lacking the sway back. Generally at 5 1/2 and older you'll see that noticable sway in their backs. This guy has a reverse sway even. :D
