difference 1 year can make

[6x6]

I finally got my 15 year old to teach me how to post my own pictures so I dont have to ask Jay to do it for me anymore. Thought I would share some pics from the last 2 years of the buck I shot with my bow and another drop tine buck, both at 3 and 4 years old to show how much a buck with great genetics can jump in one year.The buck I shot went from 143 to 202+ in one year. I know alot of guys that try not to shoot any buck untill he is fully mature[5 1/2+ yrs old] but what I have been doing is try to identify the bucks with the most potential at 2 or 3, protect them, and remove as many of the average 3 and 4 year old bucks as we can, especially the more dominant/ aggressive ones, to keep the best bucks from dispersing elsewhere. It sounds good on paper and sometimes they leave anyway, but I think its the best way to grow and keep the top end bucks. I would sure like to hear how the rest of you guys make your management decisions.

 

[SaskGuy]

WOW, what great bucks!! Sometimes they indeed make incredible jumps.

That first picture is one of the best I've seen.

 

[dtr]

Awesome bucks! Obviously it looks like your management plan is working. I wouldn't change a thing!

 

[dtr]

6x6, the inches your bucks are putting on are incredible. Do you do any supplemental feeding? Do you use minerals? I've had a couple of deer put on 30" - 40" in a year but nothing like that.

 

[JakeWym]

Crazy how those guys blew up...holy smokes

 

[LoessHillsArcher]

We follow very similar management practices that you do... but not with near that size of bucks! WOW!

 

[6x6]

I dont do any supplemental feeding,other than to position them for the camera in the summer for good velvet pictures, on their way to the soybeans. But I do leave plenty of corn/beans standing and plant lots of clover mix food plots.From January thru August I keep Imperial Whitetail or Antler Kings mineral out.

 

[Shovelbuck]

Great growth photos

 

[shedhunter93]

Wow! Very cool

 

[pete]

That is awesome. I don't know what happened to this Buck but here he is at 3.5 and 4.5.

 

[JBAGS]

WOW!! 143 to 202+ in one year is off the charts. Very nice bucks.

 

[6x6]

What surprised me about these 2 bucks was the one I shot had small drops at 3 years, but lost them at 4, just bumps. He probably would have got them back the next year. The buck with the forked g-2s had 3/4 inch points at the bases of his g-2s at 3, then put on such big drops the next year that it sucked away alot of his mainframe. Thats why we all love non-typicals, you never know what they are going to do next.