How many inches of antler can a coues buck put on in one year?

[Pixman]

So I found this buck last year and thought he was a good buck and a cool looking buck because he had a drop-tine, first one I had seen on the hoof.

 

I was lucky enough to find him again this year and was amazed at how much bigger his antlers were this year. The first pic was in my coues buck calendar last year and this buck is on the cover and in this years calendar. How many inches do you think he added in one year?

 

p.s. There are still calendars available in the CWT store and I can meet up with you if you live near Mesa.

Thanks, Pixman aka Darren

[Adicted]

WOW...i'm not sure on the answer but what a stud

[longshooter]

Hard to tell by the pic angle but I guess around 15-18" ?

 

That is one awesome buck and probably one of the best live pics of a coues I've seen. Thanks for sharing

[Eagle Eye]

It was also a good horn growth year

[Str8Shot]

Depends a lot on age and how this next year pans out for precipitation and food growth ... If he is under 7- 8 years ( especially if he is more in that 4 - 5 year range) and we have as good as a horn growth year as 2015 I would guess 8 - 12 inches is very possible .... Seems after 7- 8 years some couse can digress in antler size rather quickly... If he is even close to what he is in these pics, with a tag in hand next time you cross his path, I would hope to think your next posted pic is him taking a dirt nap

 

A lot of factors , but great Buck as he stands in those pics.

[gotcoues]

I have followed many, many, many bucks over the years by glassing/scouting and with trail cameras. I have yet to see a buck "explode" under my supervision haha.

 

I've been lucky and have been able to follow quite a few bucks for 3 and even 4 years. I have yet to watch one for 5, I'm hoping one buck I call corkscrew breaks that streak and reappears for year number 5. He has always been very cool, but has yet to "explode". In the 4 years I have had him on camera, he has gone from about 80" to 100" give or take a few inches with the big improvement only happening from 80" to the following year and then not much change since.

 

I feel that from 2 years old to 3 years old is their best growth year. I usually start paying attention to different bucks when they reach 90-100" which in my opinion has to be a minimum of 3-4 years old and haven't seen more than 10-15" of growth on any given year after I started keeping tabs or was lucky enough to relocate and keep tabs. Most of the 100" type deer I've watched don't improve hardly at all. I do think it was a stellar antler year for growth overall. The rains seemed to timed very well for this past season and lot's of DIY guys and outfitters found great deer.

[GreyGhost85]

That's pretty incredible. I watch a lot of bucks on camera year to year and like stated earlier from 2-4 i see big leaps, but after that it seems like the growth is much slower. I do have a mule deer buck i have pictures of for 2 years and he went from a 155" type buck to a 180" class buck in one year. I think he made that jump in years 3-4.

[Viper]

That is an incredible buck! The others in the calendar are very nice as well. It was nice to meet you and thanks for a very well done calendar!

[.270]

However many inches they have when they rub off the velvet is how big they are gonna be. Always. Lark

[Pixman]

Thanks Viper it was nice to visit with you and glad you like the calendar.

[Becker]

Greatly depends on the deer. Very few will "explode" as mentioned but it happens. For instance the Kenny Ball (spell?) buck out of 33 was around 132 I believe the year before (sheds were found) and when he killed it was 154? Or something. McDermotts auction buck from this year was roughly 130 last year and 166 SCI this year. I'm not sure on auction buck that Mr Mullins guided but it seems to have added a lot the year they killed it based on the few pics I have seen of the sheds.

 

The real problem in expecting that is that it takes a phenomenal deer in the first place to actually explode. Generally speaking where that explosion comes from is from an already gargantuan deer. Who would let a 130 walk to see if he puts on 30" the next year. Odds are very few deer will ever get that big or even have the potential. Obviously with the experience explained from above most deer don't. 90 to 105 is all some will ever be. Based on the amounts of tags actually handed out makes that potential even smaller. Does it happen yes! But how many out of the thousands of deer that are out there living does it happen too! Comparison being how many Andre the Giants, Arnold's, Larry Fitzgeralds, or Rhonda Rouseys are there???? Not many. Capturing,documenting, and being able to experience something like that is truly a special thing.

[couesmagnet]

Pixman, that is a really really cool buck you photographed!! I've watched the motherload of coues deer over the years mature from yearlings to 6 and seven year olds and we've killed every one of the bucks we decided to pluck out that we were watching when ready. From what i've seen coues bucks grow their horns steadily and incrementally from year to year through the first 4 to 5 years. Maybe a little bit quicker from 2 to 4 but still pretty uniform incrementally wise. Then once they reach 90 inches, around 4 usually it seems to be about 2 to 3 inches a side from year to year. The biggest jump in incremental addition is between 5 and 6 years old. If a buck is going to blow up so to speak its usually at the 5 or 6 year old mark. Most deer dont have the genes to go over 105 ish but if they do have the "special" genes for a blow up it will occur after 5 usually. I have a good friend who watched a deer that we believed was 117 ish and the next year they killed him and he went over 142. The largest addition i've witnessed was that buck. An average of 2 to 3 inches a side of additional growth is normal to us per year. Out of the many bucks we've watched that were really big as in over 120 most add a couple inches per year in size per side. The biggest clue however to a real freak is the trash addition like the pic you have of that awesome deer . In my opinion your deer has a really high chance of doing the big explosion as in 10 inches or more per year. we've never seen a blow up come from a deer that didnt have the genes for a lot of extra tines being added type growth. That's usually the big surprise in the equation, ability to add lots of extras in the tine configuration, and a big blow up is hard to find in a straight typical with typical genes. I think your buck pixman has a 50 percent chance of being a super freak next year and he's already showing the tendency. Some say this was an amzing year for antler growth, but i personally think that being an extra wet year doesnt have the big helping affect that it has on growing antlers like it does for elk and mule deer. Just my opinion and i've been running cams hard since they first came out in 2000, that even the dry years dont seem to affect the coues specifically like the rest of the species. I would venture to say that moisture had little affect on horn growth of coues this year overall. The bucks we were watching that were over 120 ish didnt get any bigger this year, and in fact got smaller inch wise. Both these bucks were over 5 and not on the downhill and didnt get any extra growth with all the rain. When it comes to coues genetics and a possible jump in those genes being expressed timing alone of those genes expression trumps 10 feet of rain every day.

[Pixman]

Thanks for all the insight, info and compliments!

[gotcoues]

Really cool topic, I love hearing the opinions from you guys that put in a lot of homework! I'll have to admit, that these bucks are so hard to find once they reach that 110 category, that we instantly put them on the hit list and have done well to get some target bucks on the ground and not be able to see if they could make that big leap into the crazy huge category the following year. The biggest deer we have found were taken the same year we found them and we have no idea what they looked like the previous year unfortunately. We've had a few nice ones that were after taken by other hunters and some just disappear, probably from predation.

 

Insight into antler growth and age class is great topic! Hopefully this thread goes on for a while.

 

And yes, awesome buck to start the conversation with!