Yager Ridge

Check out this Monster Whitetail Buck...

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These are the best times to catch a monster whitetail buck on the move.

Before I share these times, I must preface that this was taken from a study done by Dr. Hellickson who was a chief wildlife biologist in Texas.

He used GPS collars on 43 collared deer over a 2 year period.

From October-January, daily buck movements peaked at 7-9 am, 6-7 pm, with a slight peak again around midnight.

The lowest hourly movements were between 5-6 am, 3-4 pm, and 10-11pm. This pattern was relatively consistent during October-January each year, regardless of moon phase.

This was a small study of only 43 deer. What have you observed while hunting or scouting for deer? Let me know in the comments.

How can you tell a buck’s age just by their appearance? Part 3. In this video, I am going to cover the difference between 5.5-6.5 yr old bucks and why it matters.

Just to review here’s 3 reasons why you should know how to age bucks by their body and at the end of the video I will explain how.

Number 3: Allowing bucks to age gives them time to spread their genetics. Obvious one right. If you kill it before it breeds, you won’t have good antler diversity.

Number 2: A balanced age structure improves the overall deer herd.

Number 1: Not shooting younger bucks and taking the correct number of does helps balance the buck to doe deer population ratio.

So how can you tell a bucks age?

5.5 year old buck.

Antlers are 90-95% of potential. At this age, antlers are displaying incredible mass, beam length, and tine length

The head looks shorter and thicker than before.

The back shows a slight sway when walking.

Neck is very muscular and appears to be swelling.

Legs appear too short for the body.

6.5 year old buck.

Antlers are 100% of potential. Antlers are staggering size and we have hit max development in most cases. however In some places around the country, a buck can meet its largest rack at 7.5-8.5 yrs old.

Head appears very short and very thick.

The bucks front is much heavier than the rear

The back and belly are both sagging significantly.

Neck is extremely muscular showing extreme swelling.

Legs appear too short for it’s body.

The biggest noticeable difference between a 5.5 to 6.5 yr old buck is the sagging of the back and belly as well as the length of legs relative to the body.

It can be impossible to tell the exact age, but these are good rules to live by.

If you want to read an article that goes further in depth, go to deerlab.com