Cull deer / could have been a nice one

I still think he might be a wall hanger (maybe Euro) / looks real good on the one side.

He’ll be a neat buck for sure!

It will be intersting to see how he turns out

I guess personally I don’t think I would call him a “Cull Buck” quite yet. Unless, I know for sure he is older than 3.5 years. I have seen some freaky looking 1.5, 2.5 & 3.5 year olds, bloom into some incredible Non typicals @ 3.5 & older.

He looks like he’s 3-1/2 don’t he???? Just looks fairly mature in the face and body size. Either way, I think he’s cool looking. I agree Rob, you will never know unless he’s allowed to grow up. I don’t think he’s younger than 2-1/2.

I have a harder time telling in the Spring/Summer, but my guess would be 2.5, maybe 3.5 this Fall???

I’m pretty good at judging age from the couch, but in the field I tend to come unglued and poop in my hat. That sums up my 09 season to a T. I’d say he’s at least 2.5 if not 3.5. He seems to have a sagging belly and a mature looking face. But then again……what the heck do I know.

I think that deer looks pretty young. I want to guess 2.5….maybe 3.5 but only way to tell for sure is to shoot him and age him.

I wouldn’t call him a cull buck quite yet either. Just a shot in the dark here.. I’m guessing that he is developing like that because of some type of injury internal or external. If you don’t want to shoot him let him go and see what happens next year. I had one last year that was worse than that. He didnt do much except a double brow on his right side but he had a typical good looking rack on his left. I have a deer this year that has the same double brow on the right and I am pretty sure that it is him. No one shot him last year and its the same property. I like to look at bucks that are 6 pointers at 3 and 4 years old as cull bucks. Get them out, or small 8’s at 3 04 4. Anything that can put on length and mass and over 8 points I would keep around, you may have somethig fun in a few years running around.

Here is the deer I speak of:

Just looked at your pic again… I want to change to 3.5 years old.

Nice looking buck WO!

Have you guys seen some of those studies out of the King Ranch (I think) in Texas?

They did some cull studies, and concluded that even with super aggressive culling over many years in a relatively controlled situation, its virtually impossible to control genetics/antler characteristics in free range deer herds to any appreciable extent.

That deer in your photo looks to be quite healthy and had great mass and spread for this time of year for what looks to be a 2.5 y.o. deer… Definitely let him grow to 5 or 6 and see what happens!!

Often, what you might consider a “cull buck” will grow into something really cool if given time. Sometimes a leg injury or pedicle wound might cause a “cull rack” this year, but a normal rack the next. Plus, taking that buck out just to take it out doesn’t really affect the herd genetics anyway, so you might just be wasting a tag….

2 cents.