Main frame, I 'll let you age him.

One year later



Main frame 8 the year before this pic.


5x5 when killed at 5 yrs old the next season.



Main frame 7.

Main frame 8 the next year(same buck as the 7, he in front on left)

The next year 5x5 with a few kickers and trash and only 188 gross.

Main frame 8

Same buck still main frame 8 point but now grossing over 200" NT


Main frame 8

One year later still main frame 8 point but now grossing over 180" NT



Both of these 8's were on the cull list the year before they were killed due to age and lack of more than 8 point typical frames.

Frame...frame. ..frame....

Judge by frame never pts at 3.5

That first one's second picture looks like a fake cartoon set of antlers or something.

ok....


now lets see all those pics of 8 points at 3.5 years old that always stayed 8's. the number is going to be WAY higher than the handful of bucks you posted up. like I said its not 100%, but its the rule rather than the exception.

by that theory you should never shoot a spike either yet you are a proponent of that stx

If that first one sides matched I don't know if I could passed him up

http://www.whitetaildomains.com/Forums/ShowThread.aspx/25231/Big+10's+#0

I enjoy all of the responses here. Any of the deer in Ranchman's post would be considered a trophy on our place, and we are only on our second year here. This deer will live for several years if he hangs around our place, and he will probably be an average or slightly above average deer if he reaches maturity.

There are different strategies to management, culling, etc.. and I think they all should be based on a particular piece of property, not straight across the board rules of thumb for every single place that holds a whitetail population. Sure, this deer might be considered a cull on a property that regularly produces 180+ inch deer, but as of now, we cannot do that and my main goal is to have every hunter on the lease harvest a mature buck every year.

And in closing, anybody that would shoot this deer like he is right now in our particular scenario and call him a cull would not be welcome back on our lease the next year. Bringing up the whole 8 point, cull thing shouldn't even be an issue with this buck.

Still have more of these if you want to see them. No one, I including myself has said that all 8's will turn into a monster buck. You popped off that you can already tell what this OP's buck was going to be based on your experience as a deer manager. Just how many 160+ have you produced on your family land and in how many years now that you have been managing it?

MEXICOHUNTER got it exactly right. On the other hand, this other fella is just a Negative Nancy if I ever seen one.

antler score is has just as much to do with genetics as anything else.

our management practices follow several other ranches, only difference is in genetics and they produce 180"-200" deer every year while we will never get over the mid 170's top end, and that may only happen every 5 years. difference in genetics.

I never stated what the op's buck is gonna be based off the pic he has of a two year old buck...its impossible to tell.

My point was just because he has a tag in his ear, don't automatically assume he is going to be a super buck.

We have had a few tagged deer show up our place. One of our hunters shot one, when he took it to the processor the processor was able to tell where it came from. Supposedly had a list of tag numbers.

More of the right deer get shot for the wrong reasons than people realize…

Problem is… if you are shooting the right deer for the wrong reasons… you are shooting the wrong deer for the same ones.

Mid July, best pic I got of him. Looks like he's gonna finish this year as a 3 year old 10 point.

txtrophy85 do you want extra butter and syrup with these?

Oh boy, here we go again......

I think that is the 1st time I ever sat in a thread with popcorn! LOL

Has been interesting reading. I think I would welcome a few "tagged" deer in my hood.

Wonder if the buck is chipped? Do they do that with deer or mostly #'s and tattoos?

We have 2 does on our property near Hondo with yellow ear tags. They have been there for 3 years and we have always wondered where they came from. The tags have a number over a slash mark and a year. TTT does?

Are there any small numbers/letters in a series of 4 listed on front or back that are visible? A deer bought and/or released from a breeder pen could have a unique number on the tag and then same number tattooed in the ear. If you can see and read that unique number you can trace where the deer came from and who had it last. A TTT deer would have an ear tag usually and a # tatooed as an ID from where they came from also. TTT deer would have been caught from a ranch not from a breeder pen.

So it looks like this buck is 3 years old this year

I never said that the deer would not grow into a 10 point.....all I said was that if the deer was not a 10 point at 3 years old I would shoot it

Btw look at that monster crow in the background

I bet someone caught him and raised him while he was little then put a tag in his ear hopping no one would shoot him.... seen people do it and put collers on them around here alot