What's Your Guess On how Old This Buck Is?

[Stanley]

What's Your Guess On how Old This Buck Is? This picture is from a neighboring property that I hunt on. The guy was nice enough to share it with me. I can't hunt this property, but have a history with this buck. I know how old he is. What is your guess?

[vtbuck]

Big head, huge neck and shoulders, pot belly, swoop in his back, legs look right for body. I’m guessing he’s a 6 year old.

[brancher147]

It is hard to tell from a picture IMO. I would put him in the mature buck, and definite shooter category, and figure out age when I kill him, or your neighbor kills him in this situation...

[BigHunt]

5-6

[Cuzzinfish]

It’s a lot harder to tell once you get past 4 or 5, but I would say he’s at least 5. One thing I noticed is that he almost looks thin compared to his neck which means he could be on the decline, as well. Is he older than 8?

[Huntoholic]

Kind of a wild guess but 8!?!?

[seazofcheeze]

8.5

[Ghost Hunter]

I'm going with 7.5.

[JakeB]

He's either 8+ or he's been rode like a horse.

[Lockdown]

Super old. 8+

[Whitetailaddict]

I'll go with 6 or 7

[Ragingun]

It’s a lot harder to tell once you get past 4 or 5, but I would say he’s at least 5. One thing I noticed is that he almost looks thin compared to his neck which means he could be on the decline, as well. Is he older than 8?

Could be on the decline. I'm on my work PC and the screen sucks so I cannot see the detail of the rack. At first glance it looks small, not that genetics doesn't affect this too, but for the size of the deer that is what it appears as. I cannot see the detail as mentioned, typically the rack will give tell tale signs of minor deformation when they get older. The only 8.5 that I shot had a much smaller rack than the year prior and the rack has some notable deformation. The one that I took was really long and extremely "thin" for what a buck normally looks like and the typical "pot belly" was flabby skin, this was during the peak of the rut when he should have been physically at his best.

I would say he's old but I can't say that his body is in full decline mode yet either.

[Edcyclopedia]

Over7

[Chuck B]

8

[Wannabelikedan]

Deer is definitely on the decline. In this pic he looks more at rut weight than at first of October weight. Rack isn’t the best gauge of health for a buck but, if this is an Iowa deer, there is a good chance he has access to fairly quality summer forage. Therefore if he has the teeth for it, he shouldn’t be lagging like he seems to be at October 7th. My best guess is 9.5. In reality, unless you’ve seen them since they were 1.5-3.5 you’e shooting blindfolded on their age.