Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Learn how to determine deer age with Mossy Oak's chart. Find a list of aspects to distinguish a buck’s age, including antler size, shape, muscle tone and more!
Antler size may help as a secondary consideration when you can’t choose between two potential ages, but body is more important. You can’t safely assume small-antlered bucks are young and large-antlered bucks are old.
One key indicator of a deer’s age is its antlers. By observing the size, shape, and branching pattern of a deer’s antlers, one can estimate its age with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Antlers grow and develop over time, and as a deer ages, its antlers typically become larger and more branched.
For bucks younger than 2.5 years old, antlers nearly never measure more than 14 inches (35.56 cm) apart. Antler diameters typically reach heights of over 15 inches once the buck reaches the age of 3.5 years or more (38.1 cm). As a general rule, think of the buck without its headgear.
Studies with known-aged deer show how antler size increases dramatically with age. Maximum size was reached at five years in the Mississippi State University research pens and at six years in South Texas wild populations. Continued. This feature article is the first in a series of three by Dr. Bronson Strickland and Dr. Steve Demarais of ...
Antler size has only reached approximately 20-30% of overall potential and is likely a spike, four-pointer, six-pointer, or very small eight-pointer. Regardless, the spread for younger deer will remain inside the ears.
The size of deer antlers doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the deer themselves. They aren’t specifically a sign of dominance. As deer age, they produce bigger and bigger antlers until they hit a peak growth. Deer antlers tend to peak at about five to seven years of age.
A difference of 8 percent and 16 percent protein in a deer’s diet at 4 years of age can cause a 20-inch difference in antler size. Although the effects of mineral levels on antler size has not been documented, calcium and phosphorus levels are known to be important to antler development.
When a deer is between three and three and a half years old, its antler size should be around 75 percent of its maximum potential for antler size. What Does a Four-Year-Old Buck Look Like? A male deer is physiologically mature when it is between four and four and a half years old.
Estimating Age and Antler Size of Photographed Bucks. Accurate, cost-effective data collection from free-ranging deer populations has great benefits for managers. Antler measurements can be used as indicators of your success in meeting your management goals, but you must have a large sample size to reliably estimate the population's true antler ...