It depends on a couple of things...
Where you hunt, are deer typically large bodied? Or even average bodied?
I've found that the "inside the ears" thing really only applies to either young bucks or teeny bodied bucks in places like the hill country. An average 3.5 to 4.5 year old buck in most places will have ears that are considerably wider than 13 inches in the prone position. At my old place, it was river bottom land and the deer got much larger on average than the rest of the county. I posted a picture of a buck and at least half the crowd responded that it wouldn't make ARs. I disagreed based on measurements I had taken on things the buck was standing near. He was killed the following year and had added a bit of spread, but not much, and his inside was 17 3/4". Guarantee he was 15.5 the year before.
But again, you have to know your herd. If this buck is much smaller on average, it could be close. Even as an average sized buck, I think he clears it with an inch or so to spare.
Where you hunt, are deer typically large bodied? Or even average bodied?
I've found that the "inside the ears" thing really only applies to either young bucks or teeny bodied bucks in places like the hill country. An average 3.5 to 4.5 year old buck in most places will have ears that are considerably wider than 13 inches in the prone position. At my old place, it was river bottom land and the deer got much larger on average than the rest of the county. I posted a picture of a buck and at least half the crowd responded that it wouldn't make ARs. I disagreed based on measurements I had taken on things the buck was standing near. He was killed the following year and had added a bit of spread, but not much, and his inside was 17 3/4". Guarantee he was 15.5 the year before.
But again, you have to know your herd. If this buck is much smaller on average, it could be close. Even as an average sized buck, I think he clears it with an inch or so to spare.
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