At what age do you think a deer reaches his greatest Antler potential? 5,6? Got this guy last year and was aged at 7.5 yrs old by taxidermy and game warden. Would have loved to have seen him when he was 5 or so.
It varies. Some bucks actually put up their best rack from a scoring perspective at 3.5-4.5 but usually I think most will tell you that 5.5 and 6.5 should be expected to be the peak ages. That said... I'd say you should never kill a 7.5 yr old deer and wish he was younger. Its the age that makes him harder to kill and not the size of his rack. That is a great buck you got there. Congrats!
Don't get me wrong, I was tickled to death to kill a deer this old. Never got a picture of him and we run cameras pretty much all year. The way it happened, you would have thought it was a spike. He came in down wind and from the direction the truck was parked and walked within 30 yards offering a perfect shot. The good lord wanted me to kill that deer, that's all there is to it!!
I'll say best rack depends on a lot like genetics and food cover ect... But average age for best rack in my opinion is around 4.5-5.5
I am sure there is some variation in how buck's progress...so my 2 cents worth... There is also another member on this forum with the data (but over the last few years I have lost his name)... Dec 7, 2013--found me on a late season quota deer hunt at Kleber WMA...it was a cold and snowy hunt in a year that had a poor mast yield and for me very little luck...until this day...after changing locations from the early morning hunt (absolutely no deer tracks in the area of hardwood I normally deer hunted) to an area I normally turkey hunt (and know of several "grassy" fields--honestly I was looking for anything that a deer might eat)--I ran into a (new-to-deer hunting) hunter consulting a map of the area...we talked a bit and he showed me where he was going on the map--only he was lost--I pointed out where he really was and introduced him to a cell phone based GPS Hunting app and we became friends...Good Luck #1 I relocated to a swampy area in the bottom of a hollow near a powerline access...it had a small grassy field and a lot of briars...I settled in...about 30 minutes later (I think my new friend actually jumped the deer) a nice buck made his way down the hill I had came down just a bit earlier and into the grassy bottom...it happened so quick that there was not time to really think...I tried whistling (but I cannot whistle) and I guess I made enough strangling noises that he stopped...my Savage 110 7mmRM placed one 150 grain BST perfectly behind his right shoulder exiting just behind his left shoulder shredding both lungs...he turned and ran about 30 yards and dropped (only deer I have hit well that has not been a DRT with that rifle)...Good Luck #2...when I walked up to him I was surprised...he was an extremely symmetric 10 point with big heavy tines...I field dressed him and slid a carcass tag under his skin and walked back to the truck to get my deer cart... At the truck, I put my rifle in the case and pulled out the cart...I called my wife and told her that I had shot a "little one" and to pick up some zip lock bags at Walmart...my new friend happened to be at his truck and offered to help...it took both of us the better part of the rest of the day to get him out and loaded in my truck (he broke down the game cart)...I took him to the check station where I watched others bring their deer deer in and after a while backed in to check him in... Still excited (my largest buck harvested to date), I posted a picture I took in the woods on this forum...within 30 minutes I received a PM with a phone number telling me that he had more information on the deer I had killed...I called and (the member of this forum) informed me that he owned the farm adjacent to the Kleber WMA track that I had killed him on...we talked for a bit and he informed me that the buck was #1 on his "hit list"...I asked why... He told me the buck was 9 1/2 years old and that he had collected the sheds from him for the past 7 years or so (sent me a picture of them all laid out)...so based on his rack and the sheds, here is his growth pattern... AGE Points ~B&C score 9.5 10 146+ 8.5 10 165 ish 7.5 12 180 ish 6.5 10 170 ish 5.5 10 150 ish 4.5 9 135 ish 3.5 10 125 ish Based on this ONE buck, peak antler size occurs somewhere between 5.5 and 8.5 years, likely subject to diet--he was likely eating on the farm next to the hunting area and had worn his teeth down to nothing...I would imagine that in a more wooded area, peak growth might be a bit earlier due to lack of high quality foods available in agricultural areas...
Most have probably seen this multiple times, but it is still very interesting, as is the story and photo above. Would love to see the picture of the sheds. https://www.realtree.com/deer-hunting/galleries/photo-gallery-from-buttons-to-booner
Did either the game warden or the taxidermist tell you how they determined this deer to be 7.5 years old?
By his teeth, they had a jaw spreader or some tool looking at it. I thought by his body characteristics to be around 6 years old without looking at his jaw
Salato has a good display of a deer that they had sheds from from 1.5 yrs old until Death... The bucks first and last rack were very similar in size and points.
Bah1286 All I could find (on an older phone from texting pictures) was a picture of the two previous years sheds laid out...this would be 8.5 on top and 7.5 on bottom...
