Can the antler potential of a mature buck be estimated?
Filed under: Ask Grant, Deer Biology
We found a matched set of sheds from a main frame 6 x 6 (12 pt) with a gross score of 151.5 without a spread measurement. You can see them on the Missouri blog at Midwest Whitetail. We know the buck was a 6 year old this year. He was coming off a hard winter with no acorns, food plots were eaten off by the first of December, and drought conditions last summer yet he was still able to grow that much horn. This year we had a bumper crop of acorns, food plots were not hit hard until mid January and in our area we haven’t had as hard of a winter as last year. If the worst of winter is behind us and we have average or better rainfall this spring and summer, how many inches could this buck add to his rack? We are located about 150 miles northeast of The Proving Grounds. Our farm is about 600 acres, with 100 acres of mixed clover hayfields and 20 acres of food plots (wheat, brassicas, clover, and chicory). Thanks for your help, hope I didn’t kill you with the details!
Ben
Ben,
Deer, like humans, can mature at different rates. For example, I was the tallest kid in my fifth grade class. By my freshman year in high school, I wasn’t close to being the tallest in my class. The same trend is true with deer. Most follow an average growth and maturation rate. However, some will express more of their antler growth potential early and some will blossom late in life. On average, wild, free-ranging deer have expressed most of their antler growth potential by the time they reach six years of age. However, there are many factors such as weather conditions, wounds, etc., that can cause an individual buck to express more or less of his antler growth potential during any given year. I hope in 2011 this buck will express more of his antler growth potential.
Growing Deer together,
Grant
