Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Trophy Huntin

Key word “usually”.

Not always. It’s not a consistent indicator of maturity in my book. Others may disagree. Mature deer are often, but not always, the primary breeders. However, tarsal staining through urination seems to be an individual behavior, rather than an age indicator.

I have a couple like that on my lease. I have a 4 pt that look every bit as filled out as that deer.

I have been studying on this some, and I'm sure I'll be corrected, but what I have read is a deer needs 4 or 5 years for his bone structure to reach maturity, and then after that, his antler mass should increase. I have also read that nutrition is the bigger factor in rack growth.

So if I can keep my doe's fat during the spring and summer, that should help start all the deer off on the best possible footing.

I'm trying to identify specific deer and watch them year over year. That's how you will know. Some of what I have read talks about a deer having a so so rack, and then the next year, he really as dds some mass. Well you won't know if you kill him this year.

I don’t think I have many maybe one or two but this place was shot up when I got it and it is taking me about three years of not killing much of nothing off of it to get some age class. The problem I have is the neighboring club shoots stuff just to say they shot something. Some of the deer that have grown up around my place stay there but some travel a long ways and get shot on the club

I consider a mature deer 4 plus.

They will in a couple more weeks right now the pre rut is just starting to kick off with bucks cruising and looking for does

I’d shoot him because he’s a 5 yr old. He’s mature in my book and if I feel like dragging and cleaning one the night I see him, he’d get popped.

On the tarsal,staining, CNC, you got to look at the location. In south MS and south AL, lots of places, the rut is still 3-4 weeks away. He’ll stain up a bunch between now and then.

He'll ,,, his aim may be off lol

That deer could breed a doe that is an offspring of a large rack deer creating a large rack deer. There is very little proof shooting culls creates better deer. Who let's the 3 year old 135 inch bucks run around to pass their superior genetics in Alabama, that's the problem. What I have read proper food during antler production is critical, less stress weather wise, and genetics all play a role in antler quality. A cull deer could be the one to take out if it is in competition with food with a superior genetically doe or buck, but that deer has already spread it's genetics around, so shooting it now makes little difference. How do you know which doe to shoot to thin the herd? You don't without genetic testing of the herd and tagging all deer. Even artificially inseminating the local does with monster buck semen still won't stop cull deer. You will never breed that out. Now shooting all the deer and starting from nothing that would be the only way to truly be effective to alter the genetics. Maybe Mbrock can comment if this is incorrect.

Never met the guy, but just by his posts he annoys me with his know it all attitude.

I feel his pain......Maybe he just needs some Flomax.....

Unless yours is a large tract, your buck age/size limits are only as strict as your neighbors whether you like it or not.

I have 1 for sure and 4 or 5 at 4.5yo. Best I can tell no 5.5 year olds this year.

Dinks don’t always make dinks.

And giants don’t always produce giants. Antler genetics in free ranging deer is so complex you can’t really stress over it. Not predictable and there’s always constant exchange of genetic material from dispersing bucks

That being said sone traits seem prevalent on certain properties. Why is that?? For instance I’ve hunted a property in Dallas County a good bit and on that property the right main beam swept in more than the left on 80% of the bucks. My Fayette lease has yet to produce a buck with more than 3” brow tines. Most are around 2”.

But I agree 100% on “you can’t change genetics in a wild herd”.

May not help but it damn sure don't hurt either. I see a 3 year old screwed up 5pt,,,, he gone

More interested in the 4' back straps standing behind it. That's a trophy right there.

I’ve always been curious about this as well……It seems obvious that some traits repeat themselves in the same areas but the way bucks disperse its almost impossible to think that its due to those specific traits repeating themselves on any one property. Dispersing bucks may come from any direction and any distance making it very, very random which ones ultimately call your property home. I kind of wonder if it may be traits that go back to the original restocking. On one property I use to hunt we had some bucks with long brow tines that all had the same type frame. These are two I killed……My cousin killed another one that looked identical to the first one with about 15 more inches of antler and there have been several others over the years killed off the same property all very, very similar

Beer gut…tag approved…advance on target.


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