We’ve been featuring an “Age This!” buck survey in this organization’s weekly e-newsletter for 10 years now. September 17, 2014 was the first newsletter to include a reader-submitted trail-camera photo and age poll. That’s not even the beginning of “Age This!”, which started as a magazine feature in 2007 and is now actually 17 years old.
This week’s buck makes it 550 reader-submitted bucks we’ve shared just in the e-newsletter! The total is over 800 when you add in the bucks published in the magazine. That’s a lot of bucks.
The Origin of “Age This!”
These numbers amaze me, because I remember the moment I conceived the idea for “Age This!” I attended one of our organization’s deer management seminars here in Georgia. Before the meeting started, hunters gathered in groups outside the building to socialize. One man had brought a photo album filled with printed photos of bucks from his 35 mm trail-cameras (Yes, I date back to the Stone Age before smartphones and cell cams – talk about an age characteristic!). Several people gathered around the photo album to look at bucks, and the album’s owner was asking, “How old do you think that one is?” He genuinely wanted input and opinions, because he wasn’t sure. Several people shared estimates, pointed at evidence, debated the possibilities. But no one knew for sure who was right.
This was an impressive moment to me, because it was one of the first times I heard deer hunters discussing buck age before they mentioned antler score. Times had changed! This organization’s efforts to teach hunters about the importance of age were working. Hunters wanted guidance on aging live deer. I thought: We could assemble a panel of wildlife biologists with experience researching and studying buck age and let them evaluate buck photos. In February 2007, we started. Kip Adams, Matt Ross and Joe Hamilton joined many non-staff experts who served on the panel over the years, and we even held a few “Age This Live!” events.
Of course, we still don’t always know who’s “right.” Aging live bucks remains an art, not a science, as we’ve said from the beginning. It’s a skill you can hone by estimating age, harvesting bucks, and checking your call against a jawbone or cementum age. Accuracy will be highest among hunters aging deer from a local population they’ve hunted, studied and know well. But by discussing age characteristics together, highlighting the ideal poses and other guidelines, everyone improves.
Why Does Buck Age Matter?
I heard an interesting story recently that confirms again the importance of buck aging skills. Heather Stevens owns DeerAge.com and provides cementum deer age estimates. She allows customers to “Request a Second Look” – if you are surprised by the age results, you can ask Heather to take a second look at the scan of your deer’s tooth. Recently, a long-time client did just that. Having submitted batches of mostly 4½- and 5½-year-old bucks for five years, he was shocked to learn the latest batch was dominated by 3½-year-olds.
Heather reviewed the digital scans, which she saves for all clients. She was confident in her estimates of 3½, so she called the client to ask if anything had changed on his end. Not really, he said. Only they had implemented some habitat improvements, doe harvest, food plots, and feeding, but that was all.
“That’s it,” said Heather. “Your management is working.” Heather suggested bucks in his area were now reaching the same antler scores at younger ages due to improved nutrition. After some thought, the client admitted Heather was probably right.
I know she was. I’ve heard a similar story many times before. Someone tells me they are disappointed they haven’t been seeing the top-scoring bucks they assumed their region could produce. Invariably, I learn they are using a score-based harvest criteria, such as “120 inches or better.” That’s the perfect way to ensure above-average bucks are shot at 2½ or 3½ – when they meet your antler criteria but are too young to have reached their lifetime potential at maturity.
Not everyone cares if they produce mature bucks. But for those who would like to see if they can produce the best bucks their county or region can grow, harvesting by age is the only way to get there. You must recognize above-average bucks when they are young and ensure they are protected until maturity instead of shot as impressive adolescents. That’s also why we try to use a variety of buck ages in “Age This!”, from yearlings to the ancients.
You can produce better bucks through age and nutrition. You can produce better deer hunting and more rut activity when a local population contains bucks of many ages. And that’s why we’ll keep including an “Age This!” buck in our newsletter. Here’s to the next 550 bucks, which hopefully contains one or more of your own photos.