Have you ever witnessed a buck actually aging passed his prime and showing signs of making mistakes during daylight hours, that he wouldnt have in his biological prime....i.e. sharpness, elusiveness, etc I know I have. One buck that I hunted for 3 years after finding him initially in his prime as a 5 or 6 year old seemed to do this. As he aged he began to show up more in the daylight year to year and quite frankly I feel like he let his guard down somewhat...I often wonder if his senses had dulled, I know he had arthritis in his last couple years ....anyway... I was wondering if any of you have ran into this with a particular deer. Biologically speaking it makes sense to me that just like us humans, as we age we breakdown, slow down and struggle with our keen senses... Just throwing this out to thoughts, opinions and experiences..
Yes, I witnessed it this year. 2 of my good buddies were after a true world class whitetail. We had several sheds from this deer over the last 6 years and new he was at least 9.5 yrs old this year. Very few times had anyone laid eyes on this deer in the day light. Last year he started showing himself a little more in the day time. Then this year it got worse as he was seen/videoed crusing for does in the middle of the day by many different people. Needless to say he died this year, the good news is another buddy of mine on a neighboring property got him.
I can pretty much guaratee you I've never laid eyes on a buck over 4.5yrs old. I don't expect (hunting where I do) I ever will, here. Our firearms season is too long for me to expect anything different. Interesting thread, though.
Of all the older bucks I have seen, I have never seen them more than once so I really cannot speak of how a buck ages in regards to his senses. I was just thinking about this today shed. The last three older bucks I came close to killing all showed themselves around mid-day (11-2) and when it was windy (people say they don't move in high winds yet two of the three older bucks I have seen recently moved in 25-35mph winds). For some odd reason or another I was within 20-25 yards of all of those bucks and could never get a shot off.
I can't say that I've ever seen a buck older than 5.5yo, with my own eyes. I have seen bucks that we believed to be older than 5yo on trail camera, to my amazement, and, it was always at night. A friend of mine shot a 9.5yo buck and if I recall correctly, it was in the mid-afternoon.
I've only seen 1 "past his prime" buck that seemed to be letting his guard down. He had taken up company with a 1 1/2 year old buck and was quite active during daylight hours. This one was still going through the motions of rutting behavior. Normally. I think that the aging bucks seem to go the opposite way and become loners that are only interested in surviving, not propagating.
As far as I know the oldest buck I've ever saw was 5.5 years old and that was this year. I know for a fact that was his age. They don't get much age on themselves around here so I'm really Interested In hearing others responses that have saw these old bucks you speak of Troy.
Intresting topic. I can definitly tell you I can not contribute information to this but I am very intrested to read what others have to say.
Ditto I don't believe I've seen one older than 5.5 years. If they are out there, I can assure you in my neck of the woods they haven't let their guard down cause I sure the heck haven't seen them. Just as humans lose their senses, I would think just like an old timer gets stuck in his ways and doesn't change much. Meaning what he's done to survive he isn't going to change. I think anyway.
I'm with most guys here. I don't think I've ever seen a buck THAT old where I hunt. I imagine its not uncommon for a buck that old to get complacent and start doing things he wouldn't have when he was a bit younger.
I have always wondered about this question, do you believe that at some point, a very OLD buck will not breed any more? Lets say when the get older than 6.5 yrs old. I know that the pressure in the area probably depends on a lot of it but just have always wondered about it, considering when they get that old and wise they just do things different.
Jeff, That's a really neat poster To the original thread...I'm lucky to comprehend a buck living to 3.5-4.5 years old, let alone living so long he starts losing it from old age.
This is a very interesting topic, I have a buddy that hunted a particular buck for years that he called "Bigfoot" because of it's track size. Through the years they'd get glimpses of it but never while on stand, then at the age of 9-1/2 he walk into a bait pile mid morning. He had a 22" spread with short stunted tines, hardly the buck he once was. He believes to this day the buck was starting to loose it's mind, couldn't believe it would walk into bait during daylight after being so elusive for so many years. I'm hoping this is true, I need a buck to say I can handle going through another winter and walk in front of me, it seems sometimes like that's going to be a only way I'm going to kill a mature whitetail.
Shot one back in the mid 90's at around 1:30- 2:00 in the afternoon, they said had to be over 10-11 years old. Don't know how they could tell that just from looking at the teeth or lack of. The wife and kids made fun of me, said the buck was old and senile.
FTR = For the record (and I do NO texting...lol) He never would disclose the location of the buck (for fear of it getting poached). I don't think he ever has. He talks about how difficult it was to get photos of him, though (many months without so much as seeing him). If he was penned, I don't think he'd have had that problem.
