I'm no expert but one thing I can say for fact is that they will dang sure never throw any new points if you kill them this year.....

Deer are different all over and I’m no biologist by any means, I just know what I have read from scientific papers and what I have anecdotally witnessed over my life of hunting deer in Texas.

When we bought our place 20+ years ago we had decent deer but not any impressive bucks. We fed protein heavily and shot all spikes and any other buck that didn’t meet our objectives. After about 6 years we still didn’t see much improvement except for maybe one or 2 good bucks a year.

About 8 years ago we changed our plan to letting all bucks grow to mature ages and only shooting deer that were past their prime or just didn’t improve over several years and were just silly. After this we have started to see on average of 8-10 bucks a year that would be a wall hanger for most hunters.

As far as adding points, the last good buck I killed was a 7.5-8.5 yr old 11 point. We watched him for 3 years as a 9, he would just add a little bit of length and width but didn’t get any more mass. The 4th year he became a 10 finally and added some more mass. We figured that was his pinnacle and that next year if one of us wanted him it we would have the green light. Well the next year he added a ton of mass and threw a sticker off his main beam to make him 11, I took him that year with my bow. Another example was an 11 we watched for several years, main frame 10 with a sticker. After 2 years of that, his third year he lost the sticker and was a main frame 12. We were positive that was his potential and he had the green light on him but he never showed up. Fast forward the next season and never had any pics of him and he shows up during the rut one morning, my dad killed him. he was a main frame 12 with 3 stickers. Basically I don’t think there is a specific age they don’t get any more points, I think it has a lot to do with their health, feed, and if rain comes at the right times during the year.

Research has been all over the board with collard deer. Some grew their biggest by far racks @ 3 and 4 yo. To the point they weren’t recognized without the collars. Others of course were in the 7-8 range. Lots of factors.

A 5 yo 8pt...... probably won’t be a mainframe 10. Might grow trash but odds aren’t in his favor there


Note: I’m not a biologist

Set your goals based on the age of the bucks and not the number of points. Give them age and nutrition and they will express their potential.

Thanks all for the feedback. Looks like we’ll have another call soon and use age as the criteria to get rid of some extra mouths this year

I’m not a biologist nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn last night, but imho, I believe that nutrition has more to do with mass than any of the other factors.

Just don’t shoot anything under. 6.5 . We had a 120” 5.5 year old 8 pt three years ago the very next year he was harvested at 6.5 and scored 140 and had 11 pts ! Two years ago we had a about a 130” 8 pt at 5.5 ! He was killed last year at 6.5 scored 156 had 10 pts was a basic 9 with a kicker . Had another 5.5 year old 115” 8pt the next year at 6.5 scored 125 and was a basic 10 so you never know!

Still have potential as a 5.5 year old 8

He needs to read a little more

That’s why I posted the question. The white papers that are out there are all over the board with what they say so trying to get some other input from people who have been doing this a while and see what their experiences are.

This year I was able to get everyone on board with protein so hopefully in a couple years we’ll start to see that benefit

5yr old 8 pts can very much have potential. Especially if they are big frame deer. I have a 163" 9 pt that was a 140ish slick 8 at 5yrs old. We killed him as a 9yr old.

One of the bucks I will be targeting this year will finish 160"+ and he was a slick 8 at 5 and 6 yrs old.

This is one of the bucks in question. I saw he needs a couple more years

Good info here. Not sure I could pass that buck

I don't think there IS an age where they stop growing points. Every deer is different. I look at score vs #points. The # of points doesn't really matter. We shoot VERY few deer younger than 5. Just let them get old. And 5 isn't old.

How many OLD and BIG 8's do you ever see that people kill? Not very many. Why? Because most of the time they grow more points as they age.

I wouldn't shoot that 10 you posted. Let him get old. When you can let one walk and you are thinking to yourself "I can't believe I am letting this deer walk!", then you are on the right track.

That's what I'm working on with the other folks on the lease. That 10 above and a couple others that my dad has the pictures of are nice deer this year but I want to see how much better they can get. Getting some push back from the folks who have been on a lot longer than me, their reasoning is being low fence... can't get bigger if they're dead

Thanks for the input from everyone, we're going to have to change up how "management" bucks are picked this year