Blacktail antler growth thoughts?

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Pulled these off a cam in an area I’ll be hunting in late October. Captured on July 17th around 4100’ in Washington State.

Assuming average antler growth between then and whenever he shed velvet, he’s a deer I’d love to pull the trigger on. However. Looking at his nose through my inexperienced eyes, am I correct in thinking he’s still a year or two out from being a true “mature” buck? Nose seems thin still without having that Roman nose I’ve seen in pictures and videos. Certainly seen smaller racks in this drainage on more mature looking faces.

If he’s got another couple years of growth, I may hunt a different drainage with some other good bucks this fall and just let him grow.

 

[Rogue Bay]

I’ve given up trying to guess age based off body size/ shape and the face. My family and the group I hunt with have had all of our deer aged for many years now and it seems there’s no trait consistency. We’ve shot huge bodied, gray faced bucks that were 4.5; small, mousy faced basket rack bucks that were also 4.5; and we’ve shot very underwhelming forked horns that were 5.5. The bodies were equally variable.

I listened to a great podcast (Rokcast maybe?) regarding research being conducted by the University of Wyoming on mule deer and they discuss the Roman nose trait. Their research suggests it’s more genetic than age related. Very interesting podcast if you get a chance to listen to it.

The buck in your photos looks impressive to me! Given that most blacktail bucks don’t live past 6, I’d be hesitant to give him a pass. Never know if something or someone will put an end to him sooner rather than later. But, that’s just me. The area I hunt may be much different than where you are. Best of luck this season and please let us know how you do!

 

[pnwsteelheader]

I’ve given up trying to guess age based off body size/ shape and the face. My family and the group I hunt with have had all of our deer aged for many years now and it seems there’s no trait consistency. We’ve shot huge bodied, gray faced bucks that were 4.5; small, mousy faced basket rack bucks that were also 4.5; and we’ve shot very underwhelming forked horns that were 5.5. The bodies were equally variable.

I listened to a great podcast (Rokcast maybe?) regarding research being conducted by the University of Wyoming on mule deer and they discuss the Roman nose trait. Their research suggests it’s more genetic than age related. Very interesting podcast if you get a chance to listen to it.

The buck in your photos looks impressive to me! Given that most blacktail bucks don’t live past 6, I’d be hesitant to give him a pass. Never know if something or someone will put an end to him sooner rather than later. But, that’s just me. The area I hunt may be much different than where you are. Best of luck this season and please let us know how you do!

I’ll try to track that podcast episode down. Interesting to hear your anecdotal findings though.

Who knows if I’ll bump into him this fall, but it’d be nearly impossible for me to pass on him if the opportunity presented itself. If I don’t end up taking him, and get pictures next spring/summer I’ll be sure to update.

 

[Jtb.kfd]

I am the same as Rouge Bay, I have given up trying to guess age on deer and bear. Been way off too many times to have any confidence. As for your deers growth, I hunted blacktails on the west side for many years with lots of summer scouting trips. I don’t think your deer will add a lot of length/mass from July 17 until the velvet starts coming off. Blacktails seemed to have much slower growth or at least not the same as mule deer. What we would see in mid/late July would be pretty close to what we would get during season. I included a pic of my daughters first deer, it was taken at 6000’ but along the west side of the PCT, but clearly has mule deer genetics as well. The rack was dark and looked like a traditional blacktail. I would guess your deer would look similar to this one by Sept. One thing I did learn with blacktails (from the Olympic Peninsula) was they are super unpredictable. Meaning, we would find bachelor groups and watch certain deer for a month or more. Then once the velvet started coming off we never saw them again that year or subsequent years. That happened a lot so if this is a buck you like I personally wouldn’t wait for another year/growth as its more likely than not in my experience that you won’t find that one again.