Is 5 yrs old the new young?

[sotx]

I look around and see that our best deer are 6 and 7 year olds on the place I hunt. Lease rules for a trophy are must be 5 years old a management must be 5 and culls must be 4. I would like to see our trophy age minimum raised to 7 and management raised to 7 and culls raised to 5. Yeah I know culls are just an excuse to kill something with horns on it, I get it, but it also taking out another mouth to feed. I just think said cull should at least see 5 before he is taken out just to be sure he isnt going to turn the corner into Mr Big.
What are you guys doing with age and trophy, management, culls on your places?

[150class]

Lots of ranches, especially down south, are creeping the age up to 6-7 and even 8 years old for trophies. Especially those feeding protein and seeing what it can do for deer. I would imagine cost/affordability plays a factor too.

Looks like its a sweet spot for age and see no issue with it. Now for culls and management deer the 4-5 age seems solid especially since they are just a excuse to shoot something like you said.

[SB09]

5 for management bucks

6 for trophies

Case and point right here. This was a solid 165” 10 at 5. This year, at 6 he decided to add to his frame and sprout a 16 3/8 main beam on top of that. He scored 197 6/8 this year.




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[sotx]

SBO9 This is what I am seeing as well.

[panhandlehunter]

We are 7.5 on our trophies. Some bucks can be shot at 3, some at 4, and others at 5, depending on the deer. These are the rules our biologist sets. I think 7.5 for trophies is a great idea.

[Walker]

We are 7.5 on our trophies. Some bucks can be shot at 3, some at 4, and others at 5, depending on the deer. These are the rules our biologist sets. I think 7.5 for trophies is a great idea.

Yep, 7.5 is just about optimum for a trophy.

[lovemylegacy]

Some deer will age differently. Look the same for several years and then blowup! Some deer don't.

Its funny how standards change over time.

[SB09]

Some deer will age differently. Look the same for several years and then blowup! Some deer don't.

Its funny how standards change over time.

You’re exactly right. Genetics vary wildly within a deer population.


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[PondPopper]

7.5-8.5 is where you want to try to get them. Natural mortality is not our friend though..

[TheHammer]

I was raised to believe 5 year old deer were mature. I now know that it is not the case and 6-8 YO is more along the lines of mature. I have had too many buddies show me a deer jump in antler size from 5 years old to 8. Getting deer to 5 year olds is a good thing, but getting bucks to 8 years old is a game changer for the long run of things.

[SB09]

I was raised to believe 5 year old deer were mature. I now know that it is not the case and 6-8 YO is more along the lines of mature. I have had too many buddies show me a deer jump in antler size from 5 years old to 8. Getting deer to 5 year olds is a good thing, but getting bucks to 8 years old is a game changer for the long run of things.

Agreed.

In terms of that specific buck trophy quality, as well as, promoting multiple generations of sought after genetics. Instead of the buck breeding 1 or 2 years, they're getting to breed 4-6 years.

That is the theory behind shooting management bucks at 5 and trophy bucks at 6. Shorten the time the management bucks get to breed to 1-2 seasons and increase the time trophy bucks get to breed to 4-5 seasons.

[Bdub25]

We have a "sliding scale" for culls, depending on age and inches. ALL trophies must be 7.

[STGS]

While every deer/ranch is different, I personally hate shooting 6 yr old deer. I believe a lot of bucks rut very hard as a 5 yr old and subsequently suffer in terms of antler development as a 6 yr old. Obviously that is not the case for every deer, but I believe it impacts quite a few. Thus, we try to shoot for 7+ yrs of age on trophy bucks and evaluate each deer on a case by case and year by year basis. Some years we win, some years we lose.

[lovemylegacy]

Agreed.

In terms of that specific buck trophy quality, as well as, promoting multiple generations of sought after genetics. Instead of the buck breeding 1 or 2 years, they're getting to breed 4-6 years.

That is the theory behind shooting management bucks at 5 and trophy bucks at 6. Shorten the time the management bucks get to breed to 1-2 seasons and increase the time trophy bucks get to breed to 4-5 seasons.

True! We are starting to get a lot of bucks showing up with split 2s, in order to get that many deer with that trait to take, you are talking about multiple years of breeding. Longer tines and width is starting to become more common also.

All that being said and I understand what the end goal is, I still think a hunter should take what they want. Sometimes overbearance on the management theme can ruin the fun of hunting.

[Chance Love]

5 years old has been the "new young" for 20 years. We target 8 years on trophies. We MIGHT shoot a 7 year old but that would be pretty rare and would need some kind of weird circumstances to make us want to do that. As far as management and culls, there are just too many factors to list here. But most will be older deer.