Old or Young buck

[pete]

I pulled a camera that I had not checked since Mid-November today, had this guy on there from November 22nd, never gotten any pics of him or seen him before. He looks to have one eye gouged out and the other is hazed over, small body, but lots of mass, what do you think old buck?

 

[hoosierhunter]

Old warrior

 

[HorseDoctor]

Old warrior

Yup! No way a young deer (outside of a pen) has that kind of mass. Hope he lived through the winter we just had. Looks pretty tough already back in November.

 

[150 Class]

Young. The antlers are the only thing that might make me think otherwise.

 

[hoosierhunter]

Young. The antlers are the only thing that might make me think otherwise.

His neck drops straight into the chest. He appears scared low on his chest. He face looks ancient. Damaged eye.

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

These type of posts are pretty much pointless to debate. We have pics of old deer we have history with deer that look young, and pics of young deer that look old. And old deer with no mass, and young deer with mega mass. And the same deer that looks old and young between pictures taken minutes apart.
But my guess would be to put him at 3.5.

 

[Sligh1]

I'm going with OLD.

 

[mumms]

I have never seen a young deer with mass on the bases like that, I am going with older deer for sure

 

[Booner]

Old dude for sure!

 

[Master Chief]

There is not a single antler characteristic that indicates a deer's age. That is biologically proven. Also what you've seen or have not seen doesn't matter either. Not many people have seen a 200" 3.5 year old, but they have been killed. Eye damage is also not representative of a deer's age.

Did you get any more pictures? One angle helps but with enough angles you should be able to get a much more accurate guess. My guess is 3.5.

 

[SaskGuy]

Younger than old. Lol

 

[dblmainbeam]

I'd say young. He has the puppy dog look to me.

 

[LYON]

I'm going with 3.5ish. His face still looks young, short nose, not much gray. The biggest thing saying he's young is his straight back and no gut. If he is young though, look out for mass in the coming years!

 

[BDAHMS]

Complete guess cause I've seen young scarred up warriors but I'm gonna go with 4.5

 

[ShedderKG]

Picture during Mid November may give us a better indication...tough one for sure.

 

[StickersNKickers]

And the same deer that looks old and young between pictures taken minutes apart.

Or seconds apart! I've got one that has to be at least 5.5 last fall that looks the part in one pic, and then a second later looks to be 3.5! First pics were fall 2011, and had to be at least 3.5 then based on body. But I guess who knows!

I'm guessing mature on the deer in question here, especially if he makes it to fall.

 

[pete]

The picture was taken 11/22/13, post rut buck here

 

[pete]

Here's another picture...

 

[hoosierhunter]

Yep I stand by being old. 7.5+. He's got that notched ear, messed up eye, scares on his chest, short stubby massive tines, a swayed belly even when he's skinny, very broad shoulders.

 

[greatwhitehunter1]

One of the only ways I know of that can easily determine a deers age is teeth.. otherwise, due to genetics, you can't ever really tell.