Which Deer Aging Technique is More Accurate, Jawbone or Cementum?
Sep 20, 2023Kip Adams
There are two methods hunters can use to estimate the age of harvested deer, and both rely on deer teeth. There is a lot of misunderstanding, misapplication, and misinformation shared about these valuable deer management…
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4 Lessons About Antlers and Deer Age from a Simple Chart
Mar 2, 2021Lindsay Thomas Jr.
It’s difficult to overstate the value of this chart for anyone trying to improve their deer hunting. It was produced by New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for their annual deer harvest summary, and…
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Pumba: Yet Another “Inferior” Buck That Wasn’t
Dec 20, 2017Lindsay Thomas Jr.
Can you name a fellow hunter who says that bucks with weird antlers should be “culled” for the benefit of the herd because they’re somehow “inferior”? Way too many of us can, so we should…
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Can You Estimate a Buck’s Age From His Shed Antler?
Mar 13, 2017Lindsay Thomas Jr.
Don’t you love that little thrill, that tiny psychological jolt you get when you first spot a shed antler? Especially a big one – but a very small one is exciting, too, simply because you…
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New Data On Buck Home-Range Size by Age
Aug 19, 2014Lindsay Thomas Jr.
In the October/November 2014 issue of Quality Whitetails, the magazine received by QDMA members, deer researcher Clint McCoy shared what he learned about the effects of hunting pressure on buck movements. For his graduate-level research,…
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The Rewards of Restraint
Sep 13, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
Look carefully at the trail-camera photo above, taken by QDMA member and private lands biologist Joe Lacefield of Kentucky. I love this photo because it captures part of the spirit of Quality Deer Management in a…
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A Leg Up: Judging Buck Age From Body Proportions
May 7, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
Is there a wall or door somewhere in your childhood home bearing pencil marks that track your height through the years? If we could just as easily track the body proportions of whitetail bucks as…
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The Antler Growth Bell Curve
Apr 23, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
There’s a simple rule underlying antler development in whitetail bucks that all hunters should understand. Awareness of this rule provides a bridge over many of the false expectations, myths, mistakes and frustrations that lie waiting…
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The Ideal Buck Aging Photo
Mar 9, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
Since “Age This!” was launched in 2007, it has become a popular segment of QDMA’s Quality Whitetails magazine (In “Age This,” member-submitted photos of bucks are studied by a panel of five wildlife biologists who…
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Leading Other Hunters to QDM
Mar 8, 2012Lindsay Thomas Jr.
One November, my brother, Rans, showed me a video clip he filmed while bowhunting a small, suburban tract in Georgia. The clip included several minutes of footage of a nice 9-pointer working a scrape and…
