Just for grins, let’s see how good everyone is at guessing the age of my KY buck from Nov. 2019. When I killed this buck I had to check him with the Fort Knox biologist, who checked him over really well, and confirmed his age. Now if I’ve told some of y’all on here how old he was, then don’t blow it for everyone else. So... how old was this buck??

4-5

8

6.5

6-7?

First..very nice buck and congratulations .

second...no one can accurately guess the age of a buck from dead deer and taxidermy pics. All you could say id it prolly is over 2 1/2...maybe.

again, nice deer

As old as he is getting. Lol
Very nice buck btw.

6.5-7.5

I'll guess when I see a jawbone.

Outstanding Wallpaper

What BhamFred said - need full body shot

Great deer Though - better than anything I ever shot - congrats

Need to see on the hoof but he’s got to be 4-5 or older.

Just guessing from the top pic - 6 , at least.

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!

For further discussion: Here’s a couple of pics of my buck from August 2019 - the biologist was nice enough to share these with me. Fred, Matt, others.... thoughts on his age, based on these pics?

They sure have a hard time getting old. I figured it was just a big young deer. Anybody in alabama would have shot him. I would have shot him twice

In my opinion, from my experience, there’s nothing about that anywhere on it from head to toe that looks 3, here in AL or KY. After aging thousands of jawbones and having discussions with many professionals who’ve done the same, I put very little confidence in toothwear and replacement aging after 3 years of age. Just like genetics determines a deers body mass potential and antler expression, it also determines the wear on teeth. Chewing patterns, soil types and diet also do the same. I wouldn’t call that a 3 year old based off those photos.

Oh, and I’d have no problems calling that deer 5 all day long.

Look at his right g2...aint the same deer 😅

I still say 4-5. I ain’t no biologist by any means but I don’t think that guy knows what he’s talking about. That deer is older.

KY has all their biologists and land managers trained the same way apparently. I’ve been on quota hunts up there and watched them age every deer coming to the station. All 2.5 to 3.5. That’s all they knew how to guess.

A few years back, me and a buddy killed 130”+ deer on a WMA. Both big bodies, but his was huge. The biologist on that place calls every deer that has 130” of antler a “2 or 3 year old”. My buddy sent his off for the cementum method and the results were 7+.

My opinion is they are mostly full of crap. And the deer in the OP of this thread is older than 3.5 by a couple of years.