How old is my buck

[hunter_vienna]

How old is this buck? Got him in Nov, first buck, really excited. Wanted to know his age

 

[yoderjac]

In my area, that rack would suggests 2 1/2 years old. It is fairly narrow, inside the ears, not particularly tall, and does not have the mass I see on 3 1/2 and older deer here. It has a bigger brow tines and a bit more width than our best 1 1/2 year old deer. I'm in central VA. I find that guessing age based on a rack is approximate at best and there is some variation with locality.

One step better would be to pull the jawbone and have it aged by a local biologist based on tooth wear. They are pretty accurate up to about 3 1/2 beyond that accuracy drops off.

You could always pull a tooth and send it to a lab for the most accurate aging.

 

[hunter_vienna]

In my area, that rack would suggests 2 1/2 years old. It is fairly narrow, inside the ears, not particularly tall, and does not have the mass I see on 3 1/2 and older deer here. It has a bigger brow tines and a bit more width than our best 1 1/2 year old deer. I'm in central VA. I find that guessing age based on a rack is approximate at best and there is some variation with locality.

One step better would be to pull the jawbone and have it aged by a local biologist based on tooth wear. They are pretty accurate up to about 3 1/2 beyond that accuracy drops off.

You could always pull a tooth and send it to a lab for the most accurate aging.

Thank you, it's a WY buck and I've never seen monster whitetail in my area. Wanted to know the age because he tested positive for CWD, which I thought strange in such a young deer.

 

[Kurt]

Older thread but I have cleaned skulls on 1.5 year old deer with CWD. The deer was fat and healthy looking. As for age of your deer, I'd go 2.5 years also.

 

[weekender21]

That’s an average 3 year old rack in Appalachia, ~100 inches.


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[Drycreek]

Depends on the area. Where I used to hunt in Central Texas, that buck could be four. In East Texas a good 2 year old.