| Will # of points differ year to year |
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By:
bearhunter
Date:18-Nov-14
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As a rule will a 4x4 buck remain a 4x4 for his life time or could he be 4x4 one year than 5x5 next year.
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By:
huntingbob
Date:18-Nov-14
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I do not know the answer to that question. Having said that, I have seen pics of bucks that do a lot of different things in there growing stages. An injury to their body will produce a different antler growth to the antlers. One will never know what mother nature will shows us and we just have to learn what the genetics are in the area. I took a buck this year during rifle season that was really high making him look better than he was. Only a 2X3 but having time to grow old he might have become a really nice one? It was a meat hunt and some fishing and a very fun time. Saw three 4x4 bucks after that but the tag was filled. Look at what others are taking in the area and you will kinda get a feel for what they will become if guys like me were not just having a good trip for fun not inches of antlers on a leftover tag. Bob.
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By:
HuntinFoolUtah
Date:18-Nov-14
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Absolutely, my experience is with mule deer not whitetails, but the older a buck gets the more likely he will have more points.
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By:
greenmountain
Date:18-Nov-14
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Often yearling bucks are spikes and eight pointers the following year. I have enough data to be confused as I can site examples to support either side of an argument. I have noticed that the general shape of the rack stays similar from year to year on pen raised bucks.
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By:
Tndeer
Date:18-Nov-14
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From what I have read, it is likely that a 3 year old whitetail will have the same amount of points for the remainder of his life.
As huntingbob said, a injury to the animal can change this. If a deers antler is broken or injured while growing, it usually changes the way that antler looks for the remainder of the deers life.
also, if the deer injures a leg, it will likely cause a malformation of the antler on the other side of the animals body.
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By:
Fulldraw1972
Date:18-Nov-14
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One other thing to consider is once a buck Reach's 5.5 he starts to grow some nontypical stuff as well.
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By:
jrhurn mobile
Date:18-Nov-14
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Have wondered this myself. It appears that the genetics on our farm lean towards 8 pointers. Didn't know if these 2.5 /3.5 year olds will pick up some more as they age. Guess I just need to start looking at more pictures and see what time brings.
James
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By:
Zbone
Date:18-Nov-14
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I know of a mature 13-pointer that is only a 12 this year...8^)
True though, he had a sticker coming off the base near one brow tine that didn't grow this year...
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By:
MDW
Date:18-Nov-14
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YES, NO, MAYBE!
Not being a biologist, I can only rely on 45 years of observations.
I've seen 1 1/2 year old deer with everything from spikes to small 6 to 8 point racks.
At the same time I've seen a 5 1/2 - 6 1/2 year old deer with nothing more than a huge 6 point rack.
As a rule most deer in my area tend toward 8 point racks, with the only difference being in the mass.
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By:
LINK
Date:18-Nov-14
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Here's hammers link from a different thread. I've seen deer go from a 4 year old 8 to a ten at 5 then a 9 or 8 at six. Usually the regression is due to drought or an injury. I do think that a mainframe 8 at 4 will most likely but not always stay a mainframe 8.
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By:
LINK
Date:18-Nov-14
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Forgot to paste link.
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By:
Hunting5555
Date:18-Nov-14
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Don't know about year to year....
I know of three deer shot off the same rock down in the SNF. Two were shot the same year and the third the following year.
You can set these three racks inside of each other and they are identical. One is BIG, the next one fits inside of it easily and the third just does fit inside of the second one.
The right main beam almost "forks" out on the end of all three racks. To the point it makes it very obvious that all three came from the same genetics.
BTW... All three are 8 pointers.
Its been a few years, but I'm guessing the big rack buck was 4+ years. The second was at least 2 years. The third was the one taken the following year and he was probably around 2 years.
Its pretty cool to see all three racks together.
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By:
HuntnBigGame
Date:18-Nov-14
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I have a buck that I hunted for 3 years,(Whitetail) First year I found him he was the biggest, a main frame 10. The 2nd year he was a main frame 8 with a split G2, The 3rd year and when harvested was a main frame 9 with a sticker making him a 10. He was tooth aged by ring count at 5 1/2. So they can and do change year to year.
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By:
wheels
Date:18-Nov-14
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A few years ago, I had a 3.5 yr old 140 class eight living on my farm, the following year he bloomed into a 175" ten, with split G2's (12 total) when the neighbor shot him, so it can definitely change.
