Bucks in Ohio are now in velvet. Is there a good way to tell, other than body size, which will become a good buck and which will just be average while the bucks are still in velvet?

Grumulkin:

I'm writing in a half kidding fashion and in a really serious fashion. How did that buck behave as you looked at him now in June? Where did you see him? How long did he let you look at him? If the answers are a) He acted spooked b)He was sneaking off and not eating my foundation plantings c) See Ans."a" -then I would think that you might (I said "might") get a look at a pretty good buck in the Fall! Six pointers stay alive by being smart - very young before they became 6 pointers. Trust me.

Actually he wasn't spooked at all since I had him in the binos at probably 450 yards working down a fence line eating tender shoots. I could see he had antlers though not much of anything at this time of year.

Been seeing them for a few weeks now.

There was an extremely nice 3 point in velvet hit on the highway this AM

Have seen several small by body size "spikes" in our yard. Just drove today down to NJ for a 4 year olds Bday party. On the way, the wife scared the heck out of me when she shouted BIG BUCK ! She meant it, and knows one when she sees one. Her description included a forked G2 and a long sticker with very good mass. We saw a nice NY buck on the way home, about 5 inches above his ears, and she scoffed at him and said, "no more Elk like than that." So to answer my own question, I guess they still have to grow a little before the antlers harden...

Look for large diameter/circumference bases - i.e., look for mass. A good mature deer will have 3.5 inch circumference or greater when the antler is hardened.

Well, it gets easier the farther along they are. I saw a buck that had 12 distinct points last weekend, but there are some younger deer that have only reached the G2.

Base size is a good indicator, body size as well.

In all truth, you really won't know for sure until he gets farther along.

It is fun to watch them, especially if you can monitor their growth on a game camera. That is a lot of fun to identify different deer and watch their progress.

Just saw one at the lease last weekend that looked to be a 3.5 year old. He already has 8 distinct points and the way his main beams are growing, it looks like he might be a 10 pointer very soon. He also has great mass and browtines that are already 4-5 inches long. Although he's only about 16 inches wide. But, in 2 more years he'll be a great buck. We probably saw about 25-30 bucks last weekend including a bachelor group that had 10 in it. Most were in groups of 3-5. Can't wait to see them all in about another month and a half!