How old is the buck from Harrison, Arkansas?

By Grant Woods,

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← Grant's Answers — How Old Is This Buck?
Question
Thank you and your team very much for the show and being an example in such a Godly manner, I love watching your show. I live just south of you guys in Harrison, AR and was hoping you could help me age a buck and help me decide if he should be on my hit list. The area around where I hunt is very heavily hunted and because I lease the land I don’t have the ability to plant food plots etc to provide the deer extra nutrition beyond native browse and the supplemental feeding that I do. I’m just wondering what my realistic hit list goals should be. Despite the lack of nutrition and heavy hunting my goal is still to harvest a mature deer despite the size of the rack/body.

Austen,

You are wise to realize different neighborhoods have different deer management potential and therefore hunters should adjust their buck harvest criteria to fit where they are hunting.  In general, I suggest hunters set their buck harvest goals to met the realistic potential of the area. A good rule of thumb is to attempt to harvest a buck that’s in the top 25% of the age class of bucks harvested in the area.  For example if most bucks harvested where you hunt are one and two years old, and 25% or so are three years old or older, than set your goal to tag a three year old or older buck.  I strongly believe hunting should be fun while hunters work to improve the local herd and habitat conditions.  

The chest of the buck in your pictures sags below where his legs meets his shoulders.  His neck merges with his chest at his brisket and his back and belly seem to sag.  These are all signs of a mature buck. I estimate this buck is three or four and I’m leaning more toward four!  Based on the description of the area you hunt, this buck would be on my wish list!

Enjoy creation,

grant