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Growth of a 3-4-5 Year old

Mr. Deeds

Mr. Deeds

Member
So dependent of course upon habitat, stress and food source. What would you all guess average growth would be of a buck per each year, including genetic conversation, say..good food, low stress, good doe ratio..??

What have most of you noticed for mass, inches per year, etc.
 
Too many wild cards. I have seen a PY 2 year old put on 50 inches in the jump to 3. More commonly 10% give or take. It really takes special circumstances for the big jumps to take place.

Good post.
 
3 to 4 should average 10-15% and 4-5 5-10%.

The biggest jump from 3 to 4 I've seen was 125ish to 166. Year was 2010-2011.

The worst I've seen was a decline from 145ish to 138. The year was 2012 to 2013.
 
I'd say a good genetic buck adds 10 to 20 inches from 2 to 3 yrs old and 3 to 4 years old I have saw some jump 30 inches. Also this is based off of typical 8 and 10 points. More points the more growth obviously. Bad genetic deer I have seen grow 5 inches and this usually in mass. Mass seems to be the most predominant growth factor that is consistent in every deer
 
I also agree with most. 10% or so for "normal" cases. Reminds me of a buck a few years back on our property that was a 2 1/2 year old 10 pt that roughly scored 130. Was an 8 pt in his 3rd and 4th years and finished his life as a 10 pt at 5 years. The whole time his rack stayed at the 130 mark. Really depends on the animal I suppose.
 
Jumps

Thru out the years have seen many 150 type bucks on which I said
Next year.many never made it out of the 150s even though they were
6.5- 7.5. Also some of the bucks with biggest sheds that we found
Were smaller when taken.
Jm2c
Kp
 
I found a bucks matched set in march 2009. They scored 137 with no spread credit. So lets say 18" spread =155. I killed him in Fall 2009 and he scored 182". All antlers were scored by certified scorers at Iowa Deer Classic. So that deer grew 27 inches in one year. He went from a 13 pt to a 17 pointer. He went from a 3 to 4 or 4 to 5yr old. He is the deer in my avatar.
 
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The only real actual circumstances I can summarize relate to the buck I shot this fall. I estimate he was 7-1/2 when I shot him.

Fall of 2011 as a 4-1/2, I found one shed and had numerous cam images. My best guess that fall was 145ish - main frame 12.

Fall of 2012 at 5-1/2 I matched him up and he was 158ish - main frame 10 with multiple splits (+ 9%).

No sheds or cam images past July in 2013 so no good estimate of 6-1/2 yr old score but based on my first visual from the treestand he actually looked smaller. My guess is this was due to the 2nd year of drought conditions.

Fall 2014 killed him with no antler damage at all - main frame 12 again with splits - grossed 173-174 (+ 9% from 2 yrs earlier with most of the gain coming from mass and character points).

This buck always had a tight frame. I would guess most bucks with good genetics could gain 10-15% per year. Great idea for a post
 
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Its easier to say 15+" is above average growth and below 10 is under average IMO.

The biggest 2 year olds seem to put on 20+" consistently at 3. Wished more made it to 4 to tell you how they looked then. :D
 
Here is a crazy jump on a great deer that has vanished....The top 2 pics are of this deer in 2011, the next 2 are of the deer in 2012. Never got any good hard horn pics as he left the farm in 2011 but was showing up on all the same cams in 2012. I guess I can't say for sure that it is the same deer but the frames sure look to be the same and the deer was in all the same spots the following summer. I found 8 bucks dead on this property of EHD in '12. This was the only deer that I had on camera religiously that I didn't find dead. No idea where he ended up, too bad because he was a giant.

Any thoughts guys? Same deer? Different deer, same genetics?
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I have another 3 year comparison that I will share shortly, I am positive the deer in my next 3 year comparison is the same deer. Enjoy!
 
2011. 2.5 year old (I'm guessing). Roughly 110".


2012 - 3.5 year old. Left side goes 60 7/8". His rack that year wasn't symmetrical at all, but based on the left side, he would have been in the upper 130's.


2013 - 4.5 year old. Left side goes 61 5/8". Again, upper 130's, maybe into 140 due to gaining a little bit of width. Keep in mind this is a velvet pic so he does look a little larger.


2014 - 5.5 year old. I found the left side again! This year it went 63 1/8". Low 140's. Sorry about the crappy pic.


He just never made that great big jump I was hoping for. Pretty much plateaued at 3.5.
 
Who cares about the antler numbers, devised by some men? He made it to 5 yrs old! Around my area that is an accomplishment. A mature animal, I'd be pleased to harvest!
 
loneranger said:
Who cares about the antler numbers, devised by some men? He made it to 5 yrs old! Around my area that is an accomplishment. A mature animal, I'd be pleased to harvest!
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I agree- but if he is going to stick around for 5+ years he might as well cooperate and blow up in inches just one of the years;)
 
Varies big time from one area to the next. I've seen massive differences on farms just 10 miles apart where age classes were the same but one area consistently produced mammoths & genetic masterpieces (even the deer that were, say, 3 and 155-160") VS the other where over years I never saw anything over 160 with fully mature deer of any age.

On those areas that seem to produce "consistent mammoths" and higher scoring deer per age class on average.... EXAMPLES I've seen pretty consistently "A really good buck" could reasonably do 120" as a 2, 140-145" as a 3, 170-175 as a 4, 180-190" 5 and I'd say most those that live to 6 and beyond (the very lucky bucks with excellent gens) getting close to 2 or maybe passing it. It's rare but I'd say "really good genetic bucks" are "reasonably common" but most get killed at 2, 3 or MAYBE 4, especially if really high pressure, lots of shotgun pushers, etc. Getting them mature is harder than finding those really good deer. Good areas always have poor & average deer but getting the great ones to maturity sure is great. I've seen some rare cases with 45-50" jumps in a year.
 
BDAHMS said:
I agree- but if he is going to stick around for 5+ years he might as well cooperate and blow up in inches just one of the years;)
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Haha you got it! I like big racks, but honestly if I had a 160" in front of me and the deer in those pics at the same time, I'd take the deer I have history with. The history is SWEET!
 
Sorry if I offended anyone. If horns are your thing,,good for you. They just aren't for me. Interesting to see ,but age means more to me.
 
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