good representative buck

Lots of times when I'm watching hunting shows you will hear the host say "he's a good representative buck for the area". Usually he's not a supper trophy but a nice deer. So if someone from another state or country asked you what a good representative buck from Alabama is, what you say? How old would he be? How much would he weigh? What would his antlers score? I realize bucks from the black belt, ye high Ole Jackson, and a few other areas would be slightly better, but in general what you say?

1.5 yo 115# 45" 5 point

200 lbs. 100-120"

South Alabama? A 150#, 2 and a half year old 8 point that scores about 100 is what you describe.

Around here 180 pounds 110-120".

Button head, 70lbs.......a shooter

Brown with 4 teats.

Milk still dripping from its mouth.

Running too fast to tell what it is. Dogs jumped it from posted private land. Looks like a buck from this public county road. Put my beer down, shoot, and count points later. Sound about right?

110", 3.5YO, 8 pt , about 140-150 lbs dressed is bout as good as it gets most places in the Heart of Dixie.

You from CLAY COUNTY????

Wow. Spot on. Sad but true.

I disagree , Most don't get to live that long around here.

"Representative buck. "


Depends on what his convictions are andwhere he stands on current issue.

Yep, that's him except probably a little lighter around here.

It amazes me at how many people I personally know who claim to pass-up 120"-130" bucks all the time, and see several 140"+ bucks every year, whose largest buck on their wall will not break the 120" mark!

Honestly, a 120" 8pt is a dang good deer.

This is dead on. We've hunted our place a ton for the past 10 years and we've only got 2 120" deer. We don't shoot many deer but definitely haven't seen the elusive 140" even on camera. I don't think he exists at our place.

You are correct I'll take him everyday.

Unbelievable! And people wonder why you can't kill big bucks! Everything is wrongly managed!

Agreed

What Danny said!!! A 2 1/2 yr old 12" 6-8pt weighing 140-150#...and one more thing is it takes a big, long deer to top 200#...and most 200# hogs and deer in Alabama weigh a good, solid 160#.

The winner is: Danny from Thomasville!!!!!!!!!! He speaketh the truthfuth.

Yep. He does.

If you walk into nearly any taxidermy shops in AL the representative buck to be mounted is a 3.5 year old 110" buck that will weigh 140-170. There are some giants hanging up in a lot of taxidermy shops, but they aren't representative.

Average "shooter" buck in bama 2.5 yo 150-170lbs 8pt 100-110". It's what most people would call a mistake, ground shrinkage blah blah, but 95% of Alabama hunters would shoot it, and most would swear its 120-130" until they walk up on it dead.

Yea, if there's one thing i've found out on this website, is there's a lot BS. I agree with Matt on what a representative buck is. If you believe what you read on here, 200# bucks are common, 150# doe are common, and 130" deer are routine. Truth is most people can't age deer,or score deer, accurately.

X2

Gotta disagree my friend. Me and my Pa haven't killed a buck as you've described in since weelllll since my first buck. Being selective works well. In the last 2 years I've killed 2 bucks weighing over 220 lbs.

Bamabucks14, the tread is about a good representative buck for most of Alabama. I guess one could say the norm, best one could hope for, etc. The 2 you posted are well beyond the norm for a good representative for Alabama.

BTW my weight number was field dressed, if you and your dad are killing bucks regularly over 220 field dressed that's some grown uns. However, 220 live weight is above average for sure , and is about 160 field dressed, still fairly common.

Nice bucks BTW.

Bamabucks14, his point was in most places by most people. There are plenty of deer like the ones you've killed hitting the ground each year, but that is not what most places or hunters are killing.

I understand both of you guys, I was only stating the norm for the property I hunt. Which I understand is not the normal weight for all of AL. We've been selective with the bucks we take for many years and as a result our "norms" are higher in weight. Btw a 220 lb deer does not weigh 160 dressed, I've never come across a gut that weighed 60 lbs. either way this is my normal weight of deer, racks vary but idk for the rest of AL

A 160 dressed weight is approximately 210 live, 170 dressed, 220 live.

I've seen quite a few. I think by Matt's formula that would be field dressing about 190, again not common. We see several 180+ FD and every now and then one north of 200 in Jackson Co.

Had one killed about a mile North of me this year field dressed 210 . I saw it on the scales and have a pic of the scale reading. Friend killed one last year about 5 miles away that went 212 field dressed. 2 absolute full grown bucks, but not good representatives of what Jackson has to offer.

Move along, dude. This thread isn't about showing us how far you can piss or how great you are with your big time 220 lbs bucks. Those kind of weights are in no way representative of a garden variety Alabama buck. Your posts all are the same with your elitist attitude. We`re all very proud of your selective harvest techniques, however, it does nothing to advance this conversation. Great, impressed, wow....whatever, move along.

^^^^^ listen to this. Bama you obviously don't understand. 220 maybe the average weight of the bucks you choose to shoot, but I can say almost without a doubt that 220 is not the average weight of all the bucks living on your property.

As i've said before, and will say again, most people don't actually weigh their deer, and therefore don't have a freaking clue.

We killed about 40 bucks at our club in chilton county 10,000 acres. The heaviest deer killed was around 190 live weight but the average was around 145. We killed a few over 150 but most were 130-145 live and yes I know most were 2 1/2. Our 3 year olds averaged 160-180 but we only killed 5-8 of them all year. That isn't taking into consideration all the spikes killed and there were a bunch. My earlier post was about what a nice buck for my area would be not the normal kill for the area.

LOL... just reading and thinking of a comparison.... Hollywood, CA representative of an average woman. Afghanistan representative of a woman.

It's all relative! I still agree with Hogwild (Danny). Anyway, a 130' eight pt, 4 yr old buck is a great buck in most of Alabama.

Not to say that that 2Dogs has to kick these kind of bucks out of the way to climb a tree where he hunts!!

LOL! 2Dog, I love to give you hell about Jackson Co. I wish I hunted up there!!!! Two years ago, my "duck" hunting friend shot a 170" eight up there. 170" eight pt? 170 and eight point don't even sound right. Throw the state, Alabama in there and the three just don't go together at all!!!

2.5 years old. 8 point. 140 live weight. Never scored one with a small basket rack, which is the norm around here that gets killed.

You a funny guy trot! That big 170" 8 might be a good representative of 8pts in high fence only!

My thinking on the 110" 8pt , 3.5 yo, FD at 140lbs was if a guest from another area came on a hunt and what he could expect. That would be a mid range , nice shooter, a buck at the top of the Bell Curve for all ya'll numbers and data fellers.

And I don't kick those out of the way to climb at my place, it's more like shooing spikes away.

I hunted Marengo County for years. A good representative buck for the area I hunted was a 100-105", 160 pound buck.

Now I hunt Jackson County. I'd say the representative buck for that area is a 115-120" 180 pound buck. I'm talking live weights in both cases. I've killed a bunch of deer but I've never killed one that weighed 200 pounds live. But, I actually weigh my deer. I've seen some from Jackson that weighed 220+. My largest weighed 192 live weight.

I was at a store (Hollytree) in Jackson County with a buck in the back of my truck that weighed 166 live weight. When I came out of the store there was a group of guys gathered around checking my deer out. They asked what he weighed. They were all guessing 210-240 pounds. People seem to have a hard time estimating weights. Just my opinion... I have one on everything.

I think we can all agree, a buck is 2.5 y/o, when he has his first decent rack, and this is the age of most rack buck kills across the state. Maybe not on your club, but across most of the state. Most yearlings are spikes or 4 pts. So with 2.5 y/o being the first real rack a deer has, and makes up most of the racked buck deer harvest, then that is the deer we need to be talking about. The 2.5 y/o bucks on our place average 140-150lbs and sport 80-100" at best.

I have the same opinion as most of yall. A 2.5 year old basket racked 8 pt measuring 80-100"s that weights from 120-150. That is basically what you expect to see and kill around here. Anything that weighs over 160lbs and scores over 120" and is 3.5+ is a great buck where I hunt. Most that are killed are little spikes and such that weigh about 90 lbs.

God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason. Study up and gain some experiences on subjects before you go making yourself look as uneducated as you just did. A little word of advice about the relatively large group of regulars here, there are 10 times your age in years in the woods with this group and bullshitters and think they know it all and dont know crap, "Jackie Bushman's" is what I call them are easily spotted by folks around here...

I would say that is pretty dang close but I am gonna go with the "average shooter buck" statewide is gonna be 2.5 yr old 6-8 point and 150 lbs...I think that is a pretty fair assessment state wide. The OP was asking representative SHOOTER deer, not necessarily taxidermy deer or anything like that...

Which was when... 3 or 4 years ago ?

I would say 200 lbs dressed is about as rare as 150 in of horn.

I guarantee ya...

200 dressed is 260 live. A 220 dressed is bumping 300 lbs. That's over 60 lbs of gut. Didn't he claim to kill 200 lb dressed deer, yet claim he had never seen a 60 lb gut??

Daddy stumbled on to some good land, decided he would get his boy in to hunting a few years ago. Said boy had a couple good bucks walk out in to a food plot and gave him a shot opportunity and said boy is now an expert professional certified bonafied we grow the biggest deer in the state on my daddy's land whitetail professor... The end.

The 200+ field dressed is more rare in our area than 150" of antler IMO.

My personal heaviest is 187 FD, looked like farmer Brown's prize steer laying there before field dressing. I guess that's the biggest I've seen before FD too, all those bigger I seen, others killed and were gutted in the woods to lighten the load.

The super heavy bucks, round 200lbs FD and up, from Jackson Co. tend to come more from the river valley where the row crops are. Better soil with crops like soy beans to nibble on all summer. Just don't see them that much way back in the mountains of upper PRV and Skyline. I don't know if there's that much difference in antlers, but the valley deer tend to be a little heavier IMO.

I think he saw my weights (140-150lbs) in my first post and didn't see the word dressed. Guess he thought we were killing 140 lb live weight dwarfs in Ol' Hi- Jackson.

Think his weights are live. Least I guess they are, if he and daddy are whacking 220 lb FD bucks regularly, maybe we better listen up!

If I'm not mistaken bamabucks told a story on here about how he killed one of the bucks by stalking it without hunters orange on. Then quickly back tracked when everyone on here informed him that was illegal. He's obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed. He's gonna be very butt hurt after hearing all these comments and I bet he comes back firing!

I've seen 3 bucks that passed the 200 lb mark, I killed one that dressed mid 180's, the other 2 were in the 230's. All of them were weighed on so called certified scales. I see more of the 160-180 range for 3.5 to 5.5 yr olds prerut. Some post ruts in the 170's but those are rare.

Average score for those age classes 115-120"

agree accept that type buck is going to be 3.5 90% of the time. it takes an above average 2.5 year old to hit 110" and in a lot of areas a 3.5 year old will weigh more in the 150-170 range. a 170 lb. 2 year old would likely weigh 240 or so when mature...

congrats!!! but unless your hunting in a fence don't get dissapointed when you go several years without seeing or at least killing a buck close to either of the ones you've shot. I've been selective for 15 years, but I still go 2 and sometimes 3 seasons without getting an opportunity to kill a good one (130+). But I hope for your sake you get to prove me wrong.

I would agree. We've killed 3 over 200 lbs, live weight in Jackson Co. But we've killed a lot more that were 170-190 range.

Biggest misconception IMO is that if it doesn't weigh 200 and if doesn't have at least 120" it has to be no older than 3.5. This kind of thinking really skews what a lot of people think is the "average" mature buck on their property. I was guilty of this for several years until I started watching 3 year olds go to 4, go to 5 and they are still 110" and 180 lbs. I quickly learned that even in some of the best areas of Alabama the "average mature buck" isn't going to score 125-130 like some people would like to think.

very true, I think the King Ranch has research that shows this

Seen a 3.5 yr old with 115" that only weighed 146 live weight on a scale, thought he was a nice 2.5 yr old til we aged him. He was butterball fat too.

after picking up a skull mount recently and seeing about 30 smaller ones hanging up. I would have to say the the average skull mount would be around 70"-80". I would have to think that an average of all the skull mounts would be a good guess for a good alabama deer. after all if it was exceptional you would get a full mount, and if it was a poor rack you would cut it off and hang it in the barn.

Bingo gentlemen. Even in the best soil with the best age structures a 100-115" mature deer is average in AL. A 120+ is above the norm anywhere in this state. A lot of trophy managed clubs have higher average scores per age class because they are letting mature bucks die of old age that don't meet requirements, skewing their data in favor of higher averages.. Happens often.

.

Not to hijack.... But wouldn't clubs where this happens often...skew any data collection being that if it happens often?

Not necessarily. I've got a 142", 128" and 131" skull mounts. I already had several shoulder mounted deer and wanted something different.

Ding, Ding, Ding!!!!

Gentlemen, we have a winner!

He is saying on "Average" Bill... I completely agree with him. A lot of us here aren't really a good representation of "Average" standards statewide...

Exactly...

truedoube said: I would agree. We've killed 3 over 200 lbs, live weight in Jackson Co. But we've killed a lot more that were 170-190 range.

Biggest misconception IMO is that if it doesn't weigh 200 and if doesn't have at least 120" it has to be no older than 3.5. This kind of thinking really skews what a lot of people think is the "average" mature buck on their property. I was guilty of this for several years until I started watching 3 year olds go to 4, go to 5 and they are still 110" and 180 lbs. I quickly learned that even in some of the best areas of Alabama the "average mature buck" isn't going to score 125-130 like some people would like to think.


I would agree too. There is a misconception that a 4 yr old will be EVEN "substantially" BIGGER "next year" or even a 3 yr old good racked buck will be a monster when he's 5 yrs old and that just ain't the case.

I just want to hunt with guys that want to kill mature bucks and are not selfish nor competitive, etc... My philosophy is: do what you can to feed them; I don't think you can make a huge difference in genetics by killing "culls" and don't have a "hell, fire and damnation" if someone makes a mistake.

Back to topic... I'm a little surprised at the number of people that haven't seen many 200 lb bucks. I've hunted Monroe, Sumter, Green, Tuscaloosa, Dallas and Clarke and 200 lbs is a great weight but not that out-of-the-ordinary. In Clarke Co on the river, we've killed 4 bucks over 200 lbs over the last two years. 200 lbs ain't "that" common but they're not that uncommon. Two of those bucks would not score 100" - 110" which is disappointing but it's reality.

100% correct and IMO if you disagree you are living in denial with expectations that will never be met.