A thread in the pics section had a response that mentioned weight as a determining factor on age. For you guys that attempt to age your bucks and also weigh them do you see a certain weight that most all of your mature deer attain. Where I hunt we do not. Over the last 6-7 years I have hunted on two different pieces of property within a few miles of each other. On these properties If you just look at what we considered to be mature deer there have been a very wide range in weights. They have been from 200lbs to 150lbs. These were all deer that were 4-5 years old or older. Also the highest scoring deer was the one that weighed 150lbs and was at least 6 years old. In my area anyway I try to look at body structure to try and age a deer on the hoof, but actual weight is a very poor indicator of age. I will add that 90% of these bucks was killed around the same time of year, as we just don’t kill many 5+ year old bucks other than during the rut.

Crazy aint it. Seems like the more you study these creatures(atleast the ones around here), the less you know. The only sure way ive found around here is with a picture log. Horn size varies, weight varies, tooth wear varies.

A few years back, the state put out a sheet that had live weights in relation to age, as well as beam length and circumference. It was an average over years of data, I'm guessing from management area's. I mean if you can't go by the size of the rack or the weight, he better be real close if you studying characteristics. When in doubt, I look for mass.

They have ranged in excess of 100 lbs difference over 12 years of data collection on our place, from upper 130s to over 240. Average is 189. It’s easier to use body characteristics over weight. With the range fluctuating so much I don’t think it does much good to use it as a deciding factor on whether to shoot. Our heaviest this year was 219 lbs and lightest was 158. Both the same age and killed well before the peak of rut. They’re like people. If you took 100 random men from this site and measured weight, chest girth, waist girth and height it’s going to be all over the place.

We seem to have 2 body types on our lease, a long body and a short body. Both exhibit the same quality antlers, but the long bodies are usually 30-50+ pounds heavier. But, like Mbrock stated it’s easier to use body characteristics, like leg length appearance, back sway, belly, brisket, and muscle tone to determine age. These characteristics hold true for both body types.

I agree with the above poster , as we have 2 different body types around our place , 1 is a smaller framed body and grayish in color and the other is a larger body and they tend to be brownish to light tan , even the does have the same 2 traits...….very noticeable when they are laying side by side...

^^^^This^^^^

That's very interesting and informative. Matt, let me ask you this. At what age does a buck typically develop the dark head patch on top of his head? It seems to appear at about 3 y/o. Would you agree?

average on here seems to be about 6'8" 270lbs, size 16 shoe

Yep...shot a 120 lb buck this year that was aged at 4.5 by the biologists...so with what Matt said, the weights are all over the place!

It seems to be pretty common to have small bodied bucks with bigger than average racks. Maybe they have something a little out of whack from the norm that's causing them to put more energy toward antler growth that body development like you typically see

I have never noticed a correlation between age and forehead patch. Most bucks have a forehead patch that varies from slightly different than the rest of their coat to drastically different. They range from much lighter, almost yellowish tan, reddish brown and very dark brown appearing nearly black. I’ve tracked a whole bunch of deer from 2 on into maturity and they keep the same color usually. I’ve seen some that I assumed stained from rubbing certain types of trees.

Ok, thanks.