I let this deer walk . Lease rules say 4.5 year old bucks and this is my first lease to have to age deer was nervous i would offend lease members so i let him walk . My wife has never been so mad about me not shooting something until she saw the video . i have been looking up aging deer stuff and now believe that it is possible he is 4.5 and was wondering what y'all thought


sorry about the crappy pics all i could figure out was to take a digital picture of my 8mm video camera screen .

3.5 or 4.5. Hard to tell with these pic's. But it's never bad to let a deer this age get a year older.

it is not good to make he wife mad on the other hand

+1

Where?
If that's 3.5 he's a MONSTER next year... if he's in South Texas, thats a monster body right now, horns probably as big as they'll get...

Neckline undefined, belly starting to drop, still has a little muscle definition. Hard call he is probably 4.5. Big difference though in horn growth at 5.5 with good eats. He makes it another year and he might be somebody.

between Mason and Brady . It would have been byfar , leaps and bounds my best deer ever , my fear is that when he jumps a fence or neighbors will not be so management minded .

did you shoot the doe ?

that doe is 20 yards closer than the buck and was very small . later in the video the buck and doe are close and that doe could almost walk under that buck

that doe is 20 yards closer than the buck and was very small . later in the video the buck and doe are close and that doe could almost walk under that buck

sorry went back and looked and in that pic the doe is about 2 yards closer but you can see the size difference

did the right thing. He MAY be 4.5, but he'll be a better deer next year regardless.

my main problem now ( which I was not expecting ) is my wife wants a shoulder mount on my wall that I shot instead of my buddies . and that one is bigger than his

That deer is probably 4.5, and unless your lease's goal is to manage for big eights (which isn't a bad thing), I would bust him. Show the video to the other lease members and build a consensus.

Mature deer, at least 4.5 IMO.

hes easily 4.5, great buck

x2

At is the best idea yet? Find out what the other hunters would do and go from there. That way everyone is on the same page.

That is a nice buck, not a great buck... and I'd say he is 4.5. Sharing with the other lease members would be a good idea and leaves no questions later.

One more year might do him some good, but the rack may be what it is going to be.. protein could help.

X2

Hunted in that area for a long time. He looks 4.5 to me.

initial I would say 3.5 but could 4.5, pic makes it hard to tell. The lease I manage has the same rule but we would not fault you too bad for a deer like this. He is nice