Your Turn...

[Slugger]

My hunting partner emailed me this pic the other day. We have a set of stands hung for filming within 30 yds of this camera. He and I agreed that this buck was probably 5.5 due to his deep brisket and pot belly. I have showed the pic to several who say they think he is 3.5 tops and some say 4.5 tops. I do think its a possiblity but I think they are caught up in the fact that this deer has a "management rack" rather than look at his body.
I have aged several deer by thier teeth and have come to realize that antlers and body size sometimes don't tell the true age.

Just thought it was a good thread topic.
What is your guess. Hopefully one of us will put an arrow through him soon and we will know for sure. If he is a 3.5 he would most definatly get a pass but we have both agreed in our opinions he is a mature deer and thats what we have our sights set on( harvesting mature deer regardless of size and sex)

Oh and as for score, Im thinking 120 ish tops, but its a really tough pic to get a good guess.
oct 2 2011.jpg

[mchildress]

I would say 4 to 5 looking at the picture.

[devin1]

Id say no more than four. Where his neck meets his brisket is still definable. Once they hit 4 and 5 the brisket and neck become more like one. Also gravity tends to give them a bit of a sway back as they get older.
I also agree this buck would not score over 120. He is probably closer to 100". It is really hard to tell though. He certainly looks healthy and well fed. Nice pic, thanks for sharing.

[Bigsho69]

Looks to be 3 in my opinion

[cityhunter346]

Nice buck..he would be chopped meat if he walked past me.

[standsitter]

I would kill him, but he is only a 3 1/2 yr old.

[DustyRx]

3 1/2 to 4 1/2 but I lean towards 3 1/2. He doesn't have the humped nose of a 5 1/2 IMO.

[TEXAS 10PT]

Just based off the picture (and its tough because its not a close up) I'm saying 3 1/2 max. No sway back. No Roman nose (short stubby snub nose) and like Devin says a mature deer's neck seems to disappear and look like its all one piece. Older mature deer usually have white/gray facial hair and I don't see it. His body still has that race horse look indicating younger. That's what I think anyway.

TEXAS

[Trigger69]

Give him another year! He should be a nice 4 1/4yr old next year!!

[Karbon]

I'm guessing 3.5. Nice deer, even better POTENTIAL!