Like most aspects of whitetail hunting, aging deer on the hoof has become a very refined business. In today's whitetail world many trophy hunters and land managers are passing up all yearling bucks (1 1/2 years old) and they are trying hard to pass up 2 1/2- and 3 1/2-year-olds as well. Why? Because we've learned that it is very important to protect our younger bucks so that our herd maintains a good age structure both now and in the years ahead. Additionally, an older, "mature" buck usually carries the kind of antlers we hope to put on the wall.
What is a mature buck? By definition, it's one that has reached 4 1/2 years of age or more. Of course, in many parts of the U.S., hunters still take high numbers of 2 1/2-and 3 1/2-year-old bucks every year. Even though a lot of younger bucks are still falling to hunters, we've come a long way in recent times. Dr. James Kroll makes a great point regarding this very subject.
"In my early days," he says, "I often told audiences that the average hunter sees a buck for three seconds--deer, buck, boom! As a consequence, countless numbers of yearling and immature bucks died on opening weekend. Today, things have changed significantly. More and more, hunters want to know how old a buck is before he or she pulls the trigger."
It's true we have come a long way. Only a few short years ago something like 90 percent of the total buck harvest in Pennsylvania (where there have long been more than 1 million deer hunters) consisted of yearling bucks. That obviously was devastating to the herd. Fortunately, with the advent of antler restrictions in some parts of the state, Pennsylvania hunters today are killing some exceptional, older-age-class trophy bucks, and they're having a lot of fun doing it.
"Mandatory restrictions simply protect hunters from themselves," Dr. Kroll says. "But they also protect younger bucks. It is my hope that hunters will eventually impose their own size limits on bucks without having any laws involved."
As mentioned, this is already happening in many places.
Common sense tells us there are two primary components to aging bucks on the hoof. One is by studying a buck's body characteristics (weight, facial features, neck size and overall body features). The other is by studying a buck's antlers. In their excellent book, Observing & Evaluating Whitetails, Dave Richards and Al Brothers maintain that even under the best of circumstances, aging whitetails on the hoof is an educated guess. Mistakes will be made, especially on older-age-class bucks (five-, six- and seven-year-old bucks). Dr. Kroll also makes a good point involving this very subject.
"Since the goal of most serious hunters and landowners is to protect younger bucks and harvest at least some mature bucks from the herd, I often tell audiences that instead of trying to determine a buck's exact age, the important thing is to first put him in one of three categories: yearling, immature or mature. Yearling bucks are fairly easy to recognize and protect. Your 2 1/2-and 3 1/2-year-old bucks fall into the immature category. Although they become a little more difficult to identify on the hoof, a growing number of hunters and landowners want to protect them as well.
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