Aging Live Deer While Hunting
A whitetail buck that you’ve never before seen in your life steps out at a mere 60 yards… is he a shooter? Aging live deer in the field can be challenging, maybe even nerve racking, but it is possible. To age live deer successfully while hunting, you will need knowledge of the physical characteristics that separate the young bucks from the middle-aged from the mature bucks. You will also need experience actually aging deer on the hoof, practicing by both using photos — try a deer aging quiz — and learning from real life buck harvests.
First, we all know that the young bucks will be little and the big bucks will be large-bodied. Well, maybe, but then again, maybe not. Most of the whitetail bucks in an area that are of the same age will look very much alike with regard to morphometric features (ie. physical appearance), but there will be exceptions. Think back about when you were in junior high. Some of your classmates were much bigger and taller and some were shorter and smaller — all the same age. Most were the same (average) size for their age.
You can estimate the age of a person by looking at body conformation. It’s the same with white-tailed deer.
Age-Based Harvest of Whitetail Bucks
Practicing white-tailed deer management has become standard on many hunting properties. One of the most common management strategies is the selective harvest of bucks based on age. It’s not hard to get like-minded hunters to agree on a buck harvest strategy, but sometimes it can be nearly impossible to get them to agree on a buck’s age. For age-based harvest to work in an area, all hunters must possess the ability to age deer in the field and on the hoof.
As hunters pass on young bucks in hopes of harvesting those deer at a later time, there is a vested interest in protecting those deer until the age-based harvest criteria is met. Depending on the property, the goal may be to harvest whitetail bucks at 3.5+, 4.5+, or 5.5+ years of age or even older. A realistic goal will vary by property and will depend on a number of factors, with property size, hunter attitudes and, of course, the ability for each of the hunters to accurately age bucks on the hoof being the most important.
Aging and Bucks with Exceptional Genetics
Whitetail bucks generally increase in body and antler size as they age. This will hold true for most bucks, but think back about your junior high classmates again. There will be some outliers, those that are not with the range of “normal.” These bucks are exceptions. They may be exceptionally good or exceptionally bad.
The “bad buck” will fool you into thinking you’re looking at a younger buck. He will be easy to pass because his body and antlers will initially appear small. You will need to look closer. The exceptionally “good buck” will make you think he’s older than he really is. He’s going to look like a shooter, with a heavier body and above-average antler growth, but he’s younger than you think. He’s the future.
Nutrition is one of the biggest factors affecting buck body condition within a deer herd. You’ve probably heard the expression, “a high tide lifts all boats.” High quality whitetail habitat makes all deer in the herd better. On the other hand, poor habitat and a less than optimal diet means deer do not reach their potential. Diet will impact all of the deer in the herd, but the real difference between the average bucks and the exceptional bucks comes down to genetics.
This is why there will be a few really good 2.5 year old bucks that look like 3.5 year old deer and some exceptional 3.5 year old bucks that start to look like 4.5-5.5 year old deer. Evaluating age-specific body characteristics can help you with aging these deer in the field. For those trying to grow higher quality, mature bucks, it is just as important to recognize and harvest a 4.5 year old buck that appears to be a younger deer as it is to pass on those better, younger bucks.
Aging Live Bucks in the Field
Practice proves invaluable when attempting to age live deer in the field. With practice comes experience, and experience means increased knowledge. One of the best tools for deer managers are game cameras. Game cameras allow hunters to document bucks on the hoof from various angles over a period of time. This helps track individual bucks throughout a single year as well as over a number of years.
With the practice of allowing bucks to reach older ages and increased interest in determining the exact age of harvested bucks, we have a great opportunity to learn more about age-specific body characteristics and overall antler and body growth patterns.
Becoming proficient at aging live deer means spending a considerable amount of time looking at game camera photos of bucks that live in the area that you will be hunting and then having those same deer in-hand post-harvest to estimate the age of deer based on tooth wear and replacement.
It’s important to note that aging deer by tooth wear is also an imperfect science (and somewhat of an art that, too, must be learned), so it is recommended that jaw bones be removed, examined and also checked and checked again with someone experienced in using the technique.
Document the deer in your hunting area throughout the early fall with remote cameras, then use those photos to study the physical characteristics of each deer and estimate the ages those bucks on the hoof, before heading to the field during hunting season. This is step one.
Step two involves actually getting your hands on some of those bucks, whether it be through your own harvest or by others hunting the same property. Repeat this process over a number of years and keep a book with photos that include game camera photos of the bucks harvested as well as their estimated age based on tooth wear.
Lastly, do pay particular attention to those bucks, especially 1.5 and 2.5 year old deer, that have unique antler characteristics that can be tracked over a number of years. These photos are the most important for learning to age deer on the hoof and will prove invaluable since you can document changes in body conformation as well as antler growth over a number of years. When that buck is harvested, you can test your ability to age based on tooth wear as well as create a photo portfolio of that deer by year by age.
In short, developing the skill to accurately age white-tailed deer in the field is something that takes time, experience. Most of the work is done when you are not in the field, rather examining photos, but the field work is just as important since you need to put your hands on a number of bucks to calibrate and improve your ability to age deer on your property.
START NOW: Aging Bucks on the Hoof with Photos by Year