Just got my deer that I killed this year back from the taxidermist. I'm pretty happy with him...just need to get him hung now.



Here is a picture of him when I shot him in January.

Nice buck. Where did you get him?

Along the Frio River, about 15 miles outside of Pearsall.

Did you take him on private or public land?

I like the character he has with the split ear. Very nice buck!

graybird

It was on private land as most of the hunting land in Texas is private. He does have some character as he was an older deer (6 1/2) and I had found his shed from the season before. I killed him late in the season so I'm sure he had a chance to spread his genes throughout the deer population.

This may seem silly, but how do you age a deer?

Nice Buck Mate

Beefa

You age them by looking at the amount of wear on their teeth. I'm not all that proficient at it but quite a few others are.

Age is determined by teeth wear. It will usually get you to within a year or two. It depends on the diet of the deer, soil type, and if supplemental feed has been used. The only surefire way I have heard of is to send it to a lab to be sectioned.

M16 - I agree. Twenty years ago it was much easier to determine age within deer from a certain area because there was much less supplemental feeding. This has changed the rate of teeth degradation within similar geographic areas over time. However, teeth wear will still get you within a year margin of error. I'm also pretty good at judging certain physical characteristics of a deer when determining age...on the hoof aging.

I was in the Pearsall area last month for Rio's. Had a great time. I got one and son got one and a sow.

Where did you hunt down there? I'm heading down there next weekend for a hog hunt.

He is a dandy!!

Really nice buck, congratulations.

Nice buck! What does he measure inside to inside? Did you score him?

NICE Deer. I like high horned deer.

quote:

Originally posted by 7Rumloader:
Nice buck! What does he measure inside to inside? Did you score him?

He was just a little over 18" inside spread. He gross scored just over 162.

We hunted with Klint Graf - South Texas Outfitters. I think we hunted mostly east of Pearsall.

quote:

Originally posted by Rattlesnaker:

quote:

Originally posted by 7Rumloader:
Nice buck! What does he measure inside to inside? Did you score him?

He was just a little over 18" inside spread. He gross scored just over 162.

Thanks! I was trying to figure it out by ear tip to ear tip measurement and I was guessing 17 and about 150 or 155. I like to know the average measurements of deer ear tips in different regions and areas that way if I go there on a trip I can determine a trophy class buck when I see it. My home state of North Carolina averages 16 inches ear tip to ear tip depending on location in the state with some areas larger and some smaller but only by an inch or inch and a half either way.

I love the high, heavy horn (I know, they are ANTLERS) and the mount turned out very nice too!

I agree nice well rounded rack very nice and you know there will be little ones.

Aging whitetails by tooth wear isn't foolproof, but as a previous post said, you can get within a year +/- easily. We have a long string of jawbones from deer taken on our ranch (each deer shot contributes a jaw) which we have aged and then had a second opinion by a game biologist. By comparing the last deer shot to the string, it is fairly easy to match them up. If you want more info, go to Google and enter "whitetail deer aging" and you'll get lots of info.