Is mass a good indicator of age?

My buddy found a shed a couple years ago. It looks to be the size of a 1.5 year old deer form this area, but has ridiculous mass and 2 kickers. Now i know that you cant accurately judge whitetail age from antlers, but im looking for a general thesis. Is it posible for 1.5 year old deer to have huge mass? Or is that soemthing that comes with age?

 

By me I have noticed that when a deer gets up in age his antlers will look like a typical 1.5 year old but it will have alot of mass. Or they will have great looking main beams with no points or a big forks. As for the junk on it I would have no idea.

 

Here is the shed in question:





I just cant see this shed coming from a young buck. But then agian, it has all the qaulities of my deer (split brows, kickers, extra tines) in a small package.

 

Mass can be an indicator of age, as bucks usually increase their mass as they age, but not always as some young deer seem to have exceptional mass. In your case, the antler looks to me to be from at least a 3 1/2 but it's just my guess.

 

I 100% agree with Greg.

 

To me that looks like a narly old deer that is way past his prime.

 

Yep, that is definitely not a 1 1/2 old deer. Greg summed it up well. I would tend to agree, it is probably a deer past it's prime.

 

I have not saw a pedical on a yearling that is half the size of the pedical that shed came from.

'Nother vote for an older deer.

 

Ya, what they said above.

 

Older in age in my mind too.:d

 

Last year, me and my buddy found a matching pair of sheds on his land. They had mass like crazy and kickers and whatnot, but no tine length or beam length. We struggled to decide whether it was a massive 3 or an old buck going downhill. This summer came and we glassed his fields and there was a dandy massive buck out there. He had a missed opportunity on him during bowhunting, and during gun hunting his grandpa shot the buck. 4 1/2 year old. Sheds fit perfect.
That being said I think it's a 3 1/2, because that shed is pretty similar to that.

 

I would say an older deer also.

 

That shed definitely looks like it would come from an older deer, but genetics has a lot to do with mass as well so I'd say it's a combination of the two.

 

Thanks for all the input guys :d

He has ALOT of character, just not the size im used to in this area

 

Simon I am not expert but I would have to say yes ..the buck in my avatar was aged to be between 7 and 9 years old with only 4 teeth left ..

dd