do all bucks get big with age

[tjhunt2]

A 100 deer is like a 360ish elk(i didn't' do the math), would you pass a 360 ish elk?

I don't know about elk....but you'll be surprised by the amount of hunters that would pass on a 100 inch buck!

 

Ernesto C

 

I'm one of those who would definitely pass on a 100 inch buck. The meat tends to get real tuff and who would want to tote all that bone out of the mountains? jk

 

TJ

[CouesBuckhunter]

Too many factors to actually answer the question for sure - one can only theorize. I have seen very very old bucks that reduce to gnarly little 2 points. So one would think a buck hits their prime and regresses each year after. Lots of muleys I have watched that are old tend to get smaller as they get older. They will have wide bases and then get thinner as you go up the main beam - this is a supposed sign of regression. However, I have watched bucks that never get better than a two point but their frames get a little bigger each year. There are a select few that have giant leaps in antler growth each year, but they seem to be few and far between. Take Devin's buck for example, he may have gotten bigger next year, he could have stayed the same, or he could have gotten smaller. There's no way of telling unfortunately. IMHO I think Devin would have been a mad man to pass that 127 buck and wait for him to get bigger the next year. With that said, I think if you had a big buck in front of you that is what your looking for, take it. You will never know what his antlers will be next year or if he will even be there.

[cw4192]

It's all about MASS and CHARACTER for me now. I have not killed a buck over 103 in 35 years of hunting these deer, but I will bust a UNIQUE deer in a heartbeat.

[firstcoueswas80]

Every 100 inch deer i see gets me excited, and looking at one is always a pleasure. Every 350ish bull also gets me cranked up like the 100 inch coues deer does. That being said i would almost always pass any bull under 365 or so, or any deer under 107. I say this cause we already have 10 or so deer sitting in the garage over 110 unmounted, and at least 5 bulls over 370 unmounted. I feel like we will never catch up on the taxidermy side of things, so why shoot anymore unless they are really really special. I would rather admire them in the binos, and dream about the next year hunting them. It's always a double edged sword with regards to harvesting any animal, cause watching them alive is half the fun!!! Now archery coues deer is a whole diff. story, cause i haven't been very successful at it yet.

Need a new hunting Buddy? I'll Gladly Kill those "little" Ones!

[Tines]

I think Devin pretty much summed it up. To echo him, it's all about the tags... Too many tags to sustain a consistent amount of giant bucks. At least to reach their potential anyway. The commercialization of Coues deer, optics and guys pushing it more and more will always make it tougher for a genetically superior buck to reach his potential. BUT........they're out there. Year after year....

 

The biggest buck I killed was aged at 5+. He scored 127"

 

I shot a 100" 3x2 that was aged at 8.

 

I also shot a 90" buck, that although I never had him aged, had every bit the characteristics of the 8yr old...and then some!

 

A friend of mine shot a GIANT AZ buck back in 1999, I believe. It grew 30 INCHES that year!! Scored in the 150's. He never had it aged but he figured 6 or so.

 

I'll say the magical age is 5 (if his genetics support it).

 

I've always wondered this: When a buck "tops out" and reaches his prime, did he grow the most inches that year when compared to others? If he was a 90" buck at 3.5, 102" at 4.5 and 110" at 5.5, then my theory is debunked. His biggest growth was between 3.5-4.5. But every buck is different, I guess.

 

But back to my buddies 150+ buck. It's hard to imagine he ever grew more than 30" any other year... Let's hear it from the hard-core shed hunters who've ground checked their bucks!!

[roninflag]

for mule deer -in one year in kaibab : yearling bucks (1.5 yr) weight ran from 89 to 145 ; their antlers were from 1 point to a 4X5 21" . my 3.5 year old : 7X5 28.5 " wide dressed 178 . a mule deer i shot in another state 6.5 years old 2x3 22" wide 208 pounds. i thought i was shooting a young deer . no the body was large. it was an old deer. mule deer that grow spike the first year will never match a buck that is a 4x5 21" wide . never. as far as i know no stats exist for coues.