mshunter77 wrote:sunnylab wrote:
And the people that think a deer reached its peak at 5 or 6 need to reevaluate their thinking. I can disprove that theory any day of the week.
Please prove it because I think you are wrong. I have never seen a deer that was 7 years old score more than it would at 5 or 6. I have seen deer at seven years old have more mass or be taller than they were at 5 and 6 but not score more overall. If they are any bigger at 7 it would have to be a very very minimal difference.
My thought about this...assume deer does peak beyond 5 years old, or assume at least a high % of them do...even if that's the case, the deer that is going to "peak" as a trophy class deer at 7 is going to still be trophy class at 5 and at 6, and he's gonna be really nice even at 4. In other scenarios, he's gonna be poor horned deer and never be trophy class animal and that will be noticed by 3, or at least definitely by 4.
SO...with all that said...without any data I would venture to guess the avg lifespan of deer in most of our areas doesn't lend itself to allowing trophy class animals 4-6 years old just die elsewhere in hopes he gains 10-15 inches and beats the vehicle traffic, hunters, predators, mother nature, etc and lives to be 7-8 years old and gives you another shot at him. Risk/Reward...i don't see it personally.
I know I've personally killed two deer that I believe to be older than 5...one deer that was almost certainly 7 and maybe 8 had lost at least 10" or maybe 15" of horn since we had his pics at 4 or 5 and every year leading up watching him decline...the other, while still very large appeared to have stunted tine growth and other signs of decline that cost him scoring inches, he had the frame to be more than he was and he was obviously older than 5, but no pics of him throughout his year to know for sure.
