The sight of a big buck in the fall with a giant set of antlers is almost a mythical dream for many hunters. Among hunters that practice quality deer management, it’s been a camp debate for years, at what age does a whitetail buck have its biggest set of antlers? 4.5, 6.5, 8.5? Everyone has their own opinion and philosophy, but what does the data actually say?
Whitetail deer antlers contain bone with the fastest growing tissues in the animal kingdom. Deer antlers can grow as fast as half an inch per day. And unlike animals with horns, deer lose their antlers and grow them back throughout the year. https://www.texashunterproducts.com/blog/whitetail-deer-antler-growth-process/
They start growing in late winter and early spring after they loose last year’s set, during this time blood “feeds” the antlers until late summer when their fuzzy velvet sheds as the antlers harden, they continue through the fall using their head ornaments as weapons, defense and a visual cue for sexual viability for females. https://www.ckwri.tamuk.edu/news-events/study-shows-female-deer-prefer-bigger-antlered-bucks-mates
Antler growth is determined by:
Nutrition
Age
Genetics
Hormones
Injury and disease
Now we aren’t able to control several of these things like genetics, hormones and the health of the animal.
But nutrition can be altered by humans and it’s one of the most important aspects of a buck’s antler growth, generally speaking after a deer gets older than 1.5 years old they should take in a diet of at least 16% protein and have access to calcium, phosphate and other trace minerals to see maximum antler growth.
While nutrition can add about 37 pounds to overall buck weight and 17 inches to his antler score, it’s almost impossible to completely change a whitetail herd’s diet without being in a highly controlled setting.
One thing that be absolutely determined by hunters is choosing “to” or “not to” take an animal at a given age. As Dr. David Hewitt said “age is the one leg of the . . . stool that’s most easily managed.” https://www.ckwri.tamuk.edu/publications/article/supplemental-feed-helps-deer-nutrition-it’s-complicated
Based off of a Mississippi State and Texas A&M Kingsville study on antler growth https://www.fwrc.msstate.edu/pubs/antler.pdf we can get a pretty good picture, on average, of when bucks reach their full Boone & Crockett score potential.
At 1.5 years of age, the following fall, a buck has its first set of real antlers and is a little less than 30% of his future potential. So, a lot better than the year before, but not much in the scheme of what he can be.
At 2.5 years of age is when he takes his biggest jump, more than doubling in size to about 60% of his future size.
At 3.5 years old a buck is, on average, 80% of his full potential. If a deer is 130” at 3.5 his projected score total is a little over 160”.
4.5 years old is when a deer is physically mature and about 90% of his genetic potential. So if a deer is 130” at 4.5 his projected top score is about 145”. This is the age at which most serious “big buck” hunters start targeting bucks.
At 5.5 years old a buck is at 98% of his top potential. This is when, for all practical purposes, a deer is just about as big as it’s going to get. They are in peak form both physically and with antler size.
6.5 is where the study found the majority of bucks topped out at 100%. After 6.5 years old, antlers get smaller and begin “going downhill”.
So that answers it, a deer reaches his biggest rack at 6.5 years old. Now you know!
But keep in mind, these numbers are averages and individual deer are different and antler size can vary from year to year based on an almost countless number of factors, but this gives us a concrete average to base our “target” age class.
Keep in mind, there’s a trade off on increased antler size vs age. Each year you “allow” a buck to get older, you drastically increase the likelihood of the buck turning nocturnal, moving home ranges, decreasing in size (for any reason) and even natural mortality.
Also aging deer from 4.5 years old and up is hard, even for the most seasoned big buck hunter, which is summed up by one of the notorious whitetail bowhunters of all time, Don Higgins, "Most average hunters cannot properly age wild whitetail bucks on the hoof. Even with the considerable experience I've had in hunting mature bucks, I find it very difficult to age a buck after he reaches 4 1/2 years of age. The only way that I can do it with any degree of accuracy is if I have watched him grow up. However, I do believe that I can age bucks up to 3 1/2 years with about 95 percent accuracy.” https://www.northamericanwhitetail.com/editorial/huntingtactics_naw_maturebuck_200808/263957
Now don’t forget, antler size is not what’s the end goal in the woods, if you are not out there to enjoy the outdoors with friends and family and to create experiences... then you’re doing it wrong.
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