Ok, I know several (Maybe all of you) won’t believe this, but the biologist aged him at 3.5 years old. Seriously. I actually texted with the biologist quite a bit last night about it. Below are a couple of his comments:
1. Yes, I remember it. Aging has nothing to do with antler size. I have aged deer with the state for 11 years before coming here. We aged hundreds of deer per year and most fall in that 2.5 - 3.5 range. Many excellent deer in KY are in that range. It all boils down to genetics, soils, and age.
2. Most deer reach their peak antler growth around 5.5. So, if that deer was 5.5, that’s probably as big as it would ever be. As you pointed out, in 2 more years it could be a B&C deer. Hopefully that makes more sense. We age based on tooth wear. There is a huge difference in tooth wear in a 3.5 versus a 5.5 age class. It’s possible it could be 4.5. But, based on tooth wear we called it 3.5. That means it showed very little tooth wear. Which means you bagged a high quality buck that already passed those great genes on to the next generation. Something to hang your hat on. If you kept the bottom jaw, you can always send it off to have it analyzed for a fee. There are a few labs out west that do it. We send teeth off every year just to compare those results to what we aged in the field. Just another way to stay accurate.
So there it is.... I killed a buck that was 3.5 years old. Maaaaybe 4.5. But for sure no older than that, and a buck that had all the makings of a B&C stud. But he wasn’t gonna get the chance to make it that far... not on my watch!