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opening day buck


dremarquis

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Hi all,

 

My dad took me fishing my entire childhood, but he wasn't a hunter. I began deer hunting when i was 25, and i've always hunted solo. Thus, i am not the most skilled or successful deer hunter. In the past 17 years, i have taken 41 deer, and this is probably my best to date (i have others with longer tines, or wider, but something about this one is really cool to me). It feels like quite an accomplishment because i got it on state lands. I had put a climber up the day before way back in a swampy area and i think other hunters pushed him my way. Got him at 1:30, after having sat in stand since 6am. Does anyone have a sense of his age?

 

thanks,

 

dre

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Edited by dremarquis
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Great Deer! The best way to know is to get it aged with the lower jaw as I'm sure you know. Lots of tImes if you have it a butcher DEC will stop by and some aging and leave the age on your carcass tag. You can also ask for one of the lower jaws back so you can age it later. It will never change. Pictures are tough and can be misleading to age from what I've seen unless you have points to reference . I've also seen many deer before aging surprise the heck out of me. Based on averages from what I remember, bases measured of the antlers avg 20-30mm for 2 1/2 and 30-40 mm for 3 1/2. Greater than 40mm was always a sight and pushed the 4 1/2 mark. An easy tip to see if it's a 2 1/2 is to reach your finger and rub the back of the last molar. If that cusp is pointy it's a 2 1/2 if it's rounded and dull it's a 3 1/2. Again way to go! Hope it helps.

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Congratulations on a nice deer! The only factual aging of a deer is by its teeth. Antlers will never provide you an accurate deers age. I have seen deer that are 5.5 that you swear we're only 2.5 and vice versa. You can learn to age them on the hoof by studying their stomach sway and shoulders. I will provide you with a guess on this deers age of 2.5 but I could be wrong if you get him mounted your taxidermist should be able to accurately age him if not their are places you can send the jaw to.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

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