For the 19th installment of our Age This Buck series, we have a deer from Todd Graf’s Illinois farm. All photos and Stealth Cam videos were captured during the rut of 2021 and to the best of our knowledge, this buck is still roaming Todd’s farm. So guess his age and hopefully, if Todd shoots him this fall we’ll be able to find out for sure!
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The head-on and quartering away angles make it hard to guess, but I’d put him at 5 1/2 in the photos (making him 6 1/2 this year). He has a block head, plenty of antler characteristic that comes with age, and dwarfs the other buck in the sparring video, which I’d estimate at 3 1/2.
With little to no extra skin at the brisket combined with a well-defined, squared-off nose, I would say this is a four-year-old buck. Additional evidence of its age is the fact that minimal to no scarring or hair loss is evident on the front knee caps which begins to become obvious at five years of age. Other indicators include a flat back and the absence of an enlarged belly which would be the case with older bucks, particularly before the rut begins.
I'm going to say 4.5 on this one. He has a big, deep chest that indicates he's mature but doesn't have much for a belly. His neck also doesn't have that "jiggle" they seem to get when they're 5 or older.
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