Looks like there may just be statewide Antler Restricts.

[wildcat junkie]

Less than a year, weighing 50-80lbs. the ones you can throw over your shoulder. usually the ones who are willing to look right at you in the stand and not spook off. its easy to identify the young dumb ones...

Those are fawns. the term "yearling" means adolecent. In a human, early teens of there about. In a deer it means more than 1 year old but less than 2 years old.

 

Button bucks are fawns. Spikes are usually "yearlings".

[Five Seasons]

I don't want to derail this too much so I will be brief; If you have the room for it, I find that a free way to get a cleaned skull is to deflesh as much as possible and then bury (and mark the spot) for a year; microbes will do the majority of the hard work. Not as pretty as a beetle-cleaned or cooked skull but they clean up pretty nice if you don't mind a slightly weathered look. I like to remember my does this way. It's okay if this isn't for you (obviously this won't work for everyone, especially if the ground is frozen when you take your doe or if you have a lot of determined scavengers) but I just wanted to mention it as an idea.

 

I have a few naturally whitened doe skulls that I found while hiking. I just don't know how you'd ever be able to distinguish them. In the age of digital photographs I've built libraries on my computer that certainly helps. I make sure to take hunter/harvest pics after every deer. Regardless.

 

[growalot]

That's like saying 8pt. Bucks are all 2 1/2 yr olds...just not so....I have seen on my cams fawns that grew spikes over 3" hardened horn the year they were born...I mention over 3" because that puts them into "buck" status here in NY

[Lawdwaz]

I have a few naturally whitened doe skulls that I found while hiking. I just don't know how you'd ever be able to distinguish them.

 

 

Sharpie

 

[jjb4900]

I have a few naturally whitened doe skulls that I found while hiking. I just don't know how you'd ever be able to distinguish them. In the age of digital photographs I've built libraries on my computer that certainly helps. I make sure to take hunter/harvest pics after every deer. Regardless.

 

well taken photos are better than mounts in my opinion....I really enjoy breaking out the photo albums and looking at old pictures of past hunts.

[wildcat junkie]

That's like saying 8pt. Bucks are all 2 1/2 yr olds...just not so....I have seen on my cams fawns that grew spikes over 3" hardened horn the year they were born...I mention over 3" because that puts them into "buck" status here in NY

 is it possible for a 6-month-old buck fawn to grow spikes? We have a healthy food supply and good genetics, and believe we've seen a buck fawn with 2- to 3-inch spikes. - Rick W.

ANSWER: Antler growth begins early in a buck's life. Just a few months into its first spring, a young buck's antlers begin growing from a permanent protrusion of bone on the forehead called a pedicel.

We typically don't see them on buck fawns because they're hidden beneath the skin.

By their first autumn, young stag's foreheads are usually adorned with leathery buttons for which they get the name button bucks.

On rare occasions, a buck fawn might sport tiny spikes or bony protuberances scarcely more than an inch or two long.

It is not until their second fall, as yearlings, that bucks typically grow what we would consider a true set of antlers.

 

 

 

I once shot a button buck that had tiny little 1/2" points sticking out of the buttons.

 

I also have a 1 1/2 year old Southern Indiana buck "Euro" mount that has 9-points & a  12" spread. I killed it on a F&W area where checking it in was mandatory. It was aged @ the F&W headquarters.

Edited January 12, 2015 by wildcat junkie

[chiefbkt]

Here's a 1 1/2 year old 8 point. I've seen fawns on my property with 2-3" spikes in the fall.

[growalot]

I Never said a 11/2 couldn't have spikes...Mr B had 2 1/2 yr. Old run head long in to his truck piercing the body...it sported 12 " daggers with over 2 1/2" flat bases...but we have had fawns here and down at camp with 4" spikes.

[noodle one]

I want everyone to know that I am stricty a trophy hunter and I am proud to tell all and any who will listen.I will not shoot any deer with three (3) ins.  or less of ears. That is right , every deer I shoot must have ears that are three ins. or better.

[wildcat junkie]

I Never said a 11/2 couldn't have spikes...Mr B had 2 1/2 yr. Old run head long in to his truck piercing the body...it sported 12 " daggers with over 2 1/2" flat bases...but we have had fawns here and down at camp with 4" spikes.

And all I said was that spikes are USUALLY yearlings. I didn't say all spikes are yearlings or that all yearlings are spikes did I?

 

That being said I will also state that spikes that reach the legal 3" criteria as bucks are RARELY fawns. Please note that I didn't use a difinitive tern such a NEVER.

 

How can you positively identify a barely legal 3"ish spike as a fawn by trail cam PIX? It very well could be a late born yearling (older than 1 year old but less than 1 1/2 in November) that is small in body size? If you shoot it & age it by teeth, then it would be a slightly different matter.

 

[wildcat junkie]

I want everyone to know that I am stricty a trophy hunter and I am proud to tell all and any who will listen.I will not shoot any deer with three (3) ins.  or less of ears. That is right , every deer I shoot must have ears that are three ins. or better.

One ear, or both?

[dbHunterNY]

That there is the truth. QDM is TROPHY management and nothing more.

 

I will admit that most hunters out there have a motivation where antlers trumps most everything else.  That statement is absolutely false though.  To practice "trophy" management based on antlers you more than likely use a lot of QDM practices then some different ones with antlers your primary focus.  True QDM can have trophies as a byproduct but isn't any guarantee period.  QDM focuses primarily on younger age class deer and trophy management focuses on "mature" bucks 4.5+ years of age.  Our QDM co-op has rules in place to mostly protect deer until 2.5 years old.  at 2.5 years old you'll have little idea what size antlers a buck is capable of.  chances are at most their antlers could be at 50%.  not until they reach 4.5 or 5.5 years old will you have an idea, with antler growth possibly reaching 75-90% at 4.5 and 90-100% at 5.5 years old.  they might be similar but are definitely not the same.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

 is it possible for a 6-month-old buck fawn to grow spikes? We have a healthy food supply and good genetics, and believe we've seen a buck fawn with 2- to 3-inch spikes. - Rick W.

ANSWER: Antler growth begins early in a buck's life. Just a few months into its first spring, a young buck's antlers begin growing from a permanent protrusion of bone on the forehead called a pedicel.

We typically don't see them on buck fawns because they're hidden beneath the skin.

By their first autumn, young stag's foreheads are usually adorned with leathery buttons for which they get the name button bucks.

On rare occasions, a buck fawn might sport tiny spikes or bony protuberances scarcely more than an inch or two long.

It is not until their second fall, as yearlings, that bucks typically grow what we would consider a true set of antlers.

 

 

 

I once shot a button buck that had tiny little 1/2" points sticking out of the buttons.

 

I also have a 1 1/2 year old Southern Indiana buck "Euro" mount that has 9-points & a  12" spread. I killed it on a F&W area where checking it in was mandatory. It was aged @ the F&W headquarters.

I have see 3 point 6 month old buck fawns. It can happen with great blood.

[dbHunterNY]

I'm sure glad someone in this thread has a funny bone!

This is some serious stuff that needs to be sorted out before next season, so I'll leave you all to get back to business without any further interruptions.

 

you jumping in your car with a highlighted route to the pharmacy? lol

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Our QDM co-op has rules in place to mostly protect deer until 2.5 years old.  at 2.5 years old you'll have little idea what size antlers a buck is capable of.  chances are at most their antlers could be at 50%.  not until they reach 4.5 or 5.5 years old will you have an idea, with antler growth possibly reaching 75-90% at 4.5 and 90-100% at 5.5 years old.  they might be similar but are definitely not the same.

Not entirely true. At 2.5 you can have a decent idea of potential, barring outside factors. (Those same outside factors will impact all age classes in that area as well, though) 

 

http://www.qdma.com/articles/will-he-be-a-good-one-next-year

[dbHunterNY]

Less than a year, weighing 50-80lbs. the ones you can throw over your shoulder. usually the ones who are willing to look right at you in the stand and not spook off. its easy to identify the young dumb ones...

 

 

Actual age range of these easy to identify "yearlings"?

 

it's a deer that's seen it's second deer season.  as in it's close to 1.5 years old; born in the early spring or late summer, living through that years season, and then living to see the next season.  less than a year old is a fawn.  fawns will have less than 6 teeth per side on their lower jaw.  the third tooth back from the front, also called the 3rd premolar, will have 3 cusps or sections to the tooth, and at 2.5 years old they replace this baby tooth with one that has 2 cusps.  don't get teeth and cusps mixed up and it's a pretty fail proof way to age deer to 2.5 years old from birth.

[phade]

Not entirely true. At 2.5 you can have a decent idea of potential, barring outside factors. (Those same outside factors will impact all age classes in that area as well, though) 

 

http://www.qdma.com/articles/will-he-be-a-good-one-next-year

 

I thought of this, too, but that study to me carries little weight in northern climates becasue the outside factors become crucial when dealing with survival (not mortality, because if they are dead, I suspect that 2.5 was at a higher rate of potential, because his lifespan was then realized, ha). I wonder if a similar study would show the same % if done up here. Southern climates have to deal with drought, but bucks come out of the rut here going into the most challenging season from a survival standpoint (not hunting related) and a long tough winter can only make it worse, slowing down the start to the "growing" season.

Edited January 12, 2015 by phade

[dbHunterNY]

Not entirely true. At 2.5 you can have a decent idea of potential, barring outside factors. (Those same outside factors will impact all age classes in that area as well, though) 

 

http://www.qdma.com/articles/will-he-be-a-good-one-next-year

 

yea ok 60%.  I think the DVD and some other stuff says 50% and that's why I had that in my head.  all good we'll call it 60%.  however, that's best case and could be as low as 25%.  if you look at that graph you posted they start to level off at the later ages so you can determine a more finite antler size with smaller margin for "what could have been".  also from just being around the hunting world hunting for big bucks a lot of deer make really big jumps later once they're growing body wise slows down.  a lot of those outside factors come into play often in free range deer.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Agreed, but those outside factors will have an impact across all ages in the area so you should see similar or at least proportional increases or decreases.

[phade]

Agreed, but those outside factors will have an impact across all ages in the area so you should see similar or at least proportional increases or decreases.

 

The tough part is not being able to quantify it. Trending is good for the macro...it's when that buck is in front of you that makes it tougher, lol.

[dbHunterNY]

The tough part is not being able to quantify it. Trending is good for the macro...it's when that buck is in front of you that makes it tougher, lol.

 

that'd be my down fall.  anything over 3.5 years old and I get pretty fidgety with an itchy trigger finger.

[The_Real_TCIII]

That's like saying 8pt. Bucks are all 2 1/2 yr olds...just not so....I have seen on my cams fawns that grew spikes over 3" hardened horn the year they were born...I mention over 3" because that puts them into "buck" status here in NY

I've killed a few yearling 8 pointers in Ny, they're pretty common.

[JoeHunter]

That there is the truth. QDM is TROPHY management and nothing more.

Exactly.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Exactly.

Have you done any reading on what QDM is? Not how some selectively practice parts of it but the entire concept?

[Jennifer]

well taken photos are better than mounts in my opinion....I really enjoy breaking out the photo albums and looking at old pictures of past hunts.

 

Agreed!

 

I have a few naturally whitened doe skulls that I found while hiking. I just don't know how you'd ever be able to distinguish them. In the age of digital photographs I've built libraries on my computer that certainly helps. I make sure to take hunter/harvest pics after every deer. Regardless.

 

 

No worries. Just wanted to toss it out there as many folks may not know of the method, and it's easy to do/free if your situation allows for it. That said, those with some creativity could do some lovely carving or scrimshaw.