One of the most popular features of NDA’s weekly e-newsletter is “Age This!” We select trail-camera photos of bucks supplied by our readers and ask our readers to estimate their age. Readers get to see vote results as well as NDA’s age estimate while learning about the body characteristics that indicate buck age.
Keeping the newsletter supplied with good images for “Age This!” is not easy because we’re picky! We only choose images that are ideal for estimating age, because hunters shouldn’t base age estimates on sketchy photos!
We need photos of bucks that are:
• Broadside.
• Standing relatively still.
• Head up.
• Well lighted by the sun or camera flash, and not blurry.
• Pictured with the entire body contained in the image frame.
• Photographed in the pre-rut or rut. Velvet must be OFF.
Examples of photos that are likely to be used in “Age This!”
Examples of Photos We Can’t Use
We Especially Need Young Bucks!
Hunters are usually proudest of big, mature bucks they have photographed, so we get plenty of those. Your chances of having a photo included in “Age This!” are actually better if you send us yearling or 2½-year-old bucks. But please send any photos you have that meet the criteria above, regardless of what age you think the buck is.
No Velvet Bucks
We do not use summer photos for Age This. In summer, all bucks tend to look younger than they really are because testosterone levels have not started to rise yet. Estimating age in summer involves too much error. We only use photos of bucks taken after the velvet is off.
To submit your photos, Do this:
• Send us an e-mail with the photo attached (You are welcome to send multiple photos of the same buck if you have them).
• Attach the full-size, original jpeg image from your trail-camera.
• Include the following information in your e-mail:
1. First and Last Name
2. Hometown
3. State (and county or general region of that state) where buck was photographed.
4. Date of photo (if it’s not indicated on the image).
5. Approximate date of the rut peak at this location.
DON’T Do this:
• Don’t send “screenshots” of the image as seen on your computer or smartphone.
• Don’t allow your e-mail program to compress or reduce the file size. Send the full-size original.
• Don’t crop or edit the image. Send us the original file from your SD card.
• Don’t send images without the information above included.
What’s Next?
We’ll respond and let you know we received your submission, then it will go into the pool for consideration. If your photo meets all of the qualities we listed above, it’s very likely we will use it at some point. Depending on several selection factors, your photo may be used immediately, months later, or not at all. If we use your image, you will be given photo credit by name. Thanks for sharing your best aging photos and helping us teach more hunters how to estimate buck age on the hoof! And don’t forget to sign up for the free e-newsletter.