Aging Deer (Ozona Area)

[careybirdwell]

This is my first year hunting in the Ozona area, and my first year with several age guidelines. I fairly decent at scoring but I have been told that the deer out here in Ozona are bigger than the hill country deer & east Tx deer. So everything I felt I aged, a couple of guys are saying a year or more younger

1st deer I considering my cull. Single brow tine and I'm thinking he is between 2-3

2nd deer, really doesn't score enough, I'm thinking in the mid 120's, but I'm thinking he is a 3-4 year old buck.

Should I allow size difference to sway my thinking

[2coolforschool]

1st deer is too young to cull. Need more pics of 2nd buck to make age determination. He looks significantly older hard horned than he did in the velvet photo. The deer aren’t that much bigger out there. In fact, I’d venture to say the average mature piney woods buck is going to be bigger bodied than your average crockett county buck. The bigger deer in the area are going to be north of I-10

[RMW]

1st deer 7.5+
2nd deer 5.5

On 1st deer look how far back he’s standing on his hooves and not on his tip toes. Also I can see age in his back and rear.

[lilbradford]

Agreed ^^ first buck looks Post Mature

[txwhitetail]

Both are 5 min but really look 6+.

[careybirdwell]

Well, I might be way off on both

[venado]

Re the "no brow tine".
It has been my experience that as a general rule once a 2 yo shows poor brows, it is likely that they will always be poor no matter how old he gets. Obviously nothing is set in stone.

Re "aging on the hoof"
It appears to me that young and mature is about all we can hope for. This picking the flyspecks out of the pepper is fruitless. If you question that comment, check out the various ages attached to any deer when only a picture and no real history on that animal is known. Even when dead and we have a jaw to look at, not much more is certain.

[RascalArms]

Both are 5 min but really look 6+.

This IMO

[GarGuy]

Both are fully mature. Giving credit where it is due.. I have seen RMW nail it a dozen times when very few folks did..

[BolilloLoco]

Kill both those deer

[careybirdwell]

Kill both those deer

Definitely the one with 1 brow tine, but the other one will not score high enough. Has to be minimum 140

[Hydestik]

Definitely the one with 1 brow tine, but the other one will not score high enough. Has to be minimum 140

Has anybody taken 140” deer off your place ? That’s a darn good deer for there for sure .

[Mayhem]

has to be 140 is going to be a tough row to hoe.

[careybirdwell]

Has anybody taken 140” deer off your place ? That’s a darn good deer for there for sure .

About 1-2 a year. Biggest to date was a mid 150

[txwhitetail]

Definitely the one with 1 brow tine, but the other one will not score high enough. Has to be minimum 140

Sounds like a good way to shoot off all your 10-12 pts and leave the 8s...