How Old Was He Really?! Big Buck Hunters Talk Age vs. Score

[robby denning]

This is my most recent mulie, 2024. I was unable to really hunt in 2023 due to ACL replacement. I contemplated this one for quite a while and against my better judgement became convinced his left antler which I describe as “sausage finger” antler meant he was an older/mature buck . A close friend of mine shot one with that similar trait a few seasons earlier and it was 7. I knew when I opened his mouth he was “young.” Cut my hand on his molars when I was messing around with the lower jaw.

2 years old.

While I didn’t hunt as hard as I had prior to ACL surgery that year, I still put in a fair amount of time and effort and this was the largest mule deer buck I saw all season while hunting. I had two mule deer bucks cross the highway near where I shot this one that were much larger but never located them.

Hats off to you all for having no 2 year olds on that spreadsheet!

View attachment 1032040

^Everybody meet @Big Sky Guy (Matson's Lab rep on Rokslide)^

that 2 year old was headed for greatness IMO!

 

[Big Sky Guy]

^Everybody meet @Big Sky Guy (Matson's Lab rep on Rokslide)^

that 2 year old was headed for greatness IMO!

I agree, for being 3 years apart they are much closer in score than I would have thought which makes me believe the 5 year old "didn't have it" and that 2 year old definitely would have had he lived a little longer.

Your spreadsheet and the podcast basically confirms what I've learned reporting ages back to hunters for over ad decade - pretty much anything is possible at 3 and older. That's a difficult pill for a lot of hunters to swallow for some reason, shooting a 180" whitetail and getting an age of 4 for some reason is unacceptable. They become mad at us for the deer having superior genetics, nutrition and habitat.

I do believe one of the best ways for an antlered critter to live to an "old" age (whatever that might be, probably >7), is to never grow a large (again whatever that may be, probably <140-150" for deer) set of antlers due to the inherent selection bias of hunters.

Below is a snipit of some of the critters we aged last year. Sex is not always reported to us and is why the "All" columns don't equal the Female and Male added together.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

Is it more impressive to kill an 8.5+ year old 150" buck that has seen it all or a 180+" 3.5 year old?

Tooth data definitely taught me how little I actually knew about aging deer. Antlers, body size, face shape, etc...all a crap shoot

Take a look at that chart I just posted. Obviously I'm biased coming from an aging perspective but to me it's more impressive to kill an old critter, partly/mainly because as discussed in the podcast and proven over and over, it's very difficult to know the age of an antlered critter that old on the hoof. Experienced hunters can pretty easily pass every sub 180" buck until one comes along and then pop him and he may only be 3 or 4. You can't really/easily "pass" every sub ~8 year old buck that comes by like you can with sheep. That 150" buck has almost certainly been passed on (or missed/wounded) by many hunters and is why he lives that long.

Wish I knew the story or even scores behind those 13 and 15 year old mule and whitetail bucks in the chart!

 

[idelkslayer]

I agree, for being 3 years apart they are much closer in score than I would have thought which makes me believe the 5 year old "didn't have it" and that 2 year old definitely would have had he lived a little longer.

Your spreadsheet and the podcast basically confirms what I've learned reporting ages back to hunters for over ad decade - pretty much anything is possible at 3 and older. That's a difficult pill for a lot of hunters to swallow for some reason, shooting a 180" whitetail and getting an age of 4 for some reason is unacceptable. They become mad at us for the deer having superior genetics, nutrition and habitat.

I do believe one of the best ways for an antlered critter to live to an "old" age (whatever that might be, probably >7), is to never grow a large (again whatever that may be, probably <140-150" for deer) set of antlers due to the inherent selection bias of hunters.

Below is a snipit of some of the critters we aged last year. Sex is not always reported to us and is why the "All" columns don't equal the Female and Male added together.

View attachment 1032054

I was the guy saying Matson's reports 1/2 years, I guess I remembered wrong.

I would have never guessed your buck was 2 year old. Very eye Opening example of how difficult it is to judge antlered game.

It's amazing to see 13 year old mule deer buck and 15 year old whitetail buck in your spreadsheet.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

I was the guy saying Matson's reports 1/2 years, I guess I remembered wrong.

I would have never guessed your buck was 2 year old. Very eye Opening example of how difficult it is to judge antlered game.

It's amazing to see 13 year old mule deer buck and 15 year old whitetail buck in your spreadsheet.

Me either! I would have guess them both to be 3-4 on the hoof, the sausage finger made me think 4+ for the 2 year old but was heavily biased by the 7 year old sausage finger buck my friend shot in 2021. Turns out that's just an antler trait and not a trait of an "old" deer . Now I know, hopefully that's the last 2 year old buck I shoot.