Mule Deer Age Thread

[WyoWild]

Lab aged at 8.5 years and scores 141”. The first photo is a bit deceiving, he was just 24” wide.

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Cool buck! Congrats on harvesting and old warrior.

 

[UTJL]

Cool buck! Congrats on harvesting and old warrior.

Thanks, for this tag I wanted a mature buck, wider than his ears, with dark chocolate horns, and I got it all. To top it off he was really fat and has been incredibly tender.

 

[WyoWild]

Hey, thanks for posting up. And isn’t it amazing that your biggest one is the youngest one? I see that a lot.

Been thinking about this a bit. I'm guessing that the reason you see a lot of guys bigger bucks being in that 4 year old range is two fold. First they are still relatively young and still prone to making mistakes that allow hunters to harvest them. They might bed and feed in more visible areas, be less sensitive to hunting pressure etc. Second in most general units there are just not a lot of bucks that make it to 5-6 years old and beyond. Between disease, accidents, predation and hunter harvest the percentages of the buck population that is older than 5-6 years old is probably in the single digits like 3-5%.

 

[robby denning]

Been thinking about this a bit. I'm guessing that the reason you see a lot of guys bigger bucks being in that 4 year old range is two fold. First they are still relatively young and still prone to making mistakes that allow hunters to harvest them. They might bed and feed in more visible areas, be less sensitive to hunting pressure etc. Second in most general units there are just not a lot of bucks that make it to 5-6 years old and beyond. Between disease, accidents, predation and hunter harvest the percentages of the buck population that is older than 5-6 years old is probably in the single digits like 3-5%.

probably but I've aged lots of 6-9 year old bucks (maybe 30-40 over the years) and they're not necessarily bigger, heavier like we'd think. That's all I meant.

 

[WyoWild]

probably but I've aged lots of 6-9 year old bucks (maybe 30-40 over the years) and they're not necessarily bigger, heavier like we'd think. That's all I meant.

Good point. Another factor is when hunters see a group of bucks they are going to try and shoot the biggest buck. That may allow an older buck with a smaller rack to escape or get passed over.

 

[robby denning]

Good point. Another factor is when hunters see a group of bucks they are going to try and shoot the biggest buck. That may allow an older buck with a smaller rack to escape or get passed over.

yip.

When I killed my 8yr old buck in 2014, a guy reached out to me later and said he'd passed the buck up a week before because he didn't score well (he didn't but had 6+" base). I believed him because he told me to the exact 10 acres where I killed it.

 

[littlebigtine]

Lab aged at 8.5 years and scores 141”. The first photo is a bit deceiving, he was just 24” wide.

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Beautiful deer!!

 

[AHayes111]

Good point. Another factor is when hunters see a group of bucks they are going to try and shoot the biggest buck. That may allow an older buck with a smaller rack to escape or get passed over.

This, Old bucks with smaller antlers often get a pass. A four year old with a 190 inch set of antlers almost never does.

 

[Islandeer]

Love this buck, I always think these old bucks start out lucky, follow some smart bucks and does, and find ways to live long.
To get one is truely special.
Congrats!!

 

[UTJL]

Love this buck, I always think these old bucks start out lucky, follow some smart bucks and does, and find ways to live long.
To get one is truely special.
Congrats!!

I was the one that got lucky! He was living in a spot that no one in their right mind would hunt. His hole was 3,000 feet above the road, surrounded by blowdown and thick timber, and no way to glass into it. I just happened to stumble into him.

He cemented my belief if you want to find old bucks you have to hunt places they can avoid hunters year after year.