Size difference in bucks

[Buckstopshere]

Two bucks came into the same zip-tied licking branch this morning, one early in the am and one later in the morning. But what a size difference! No wonder the little guys run like he!!. I cut and pasted the photo to really show the difference in body size as it was taken by the same camera, at the same zip-tied licking branch.

[BizCT]

That little buck has a palmated rack, pretty cool

[Buckstopshere]

Yep, and if he makes it through the season, it will be interesting to see if that trait shows up next year when he is a 2.5 year old...if he makes it.

[Buckstopshere]

It is easy to make the mistake at this time of year of seeing and hearing one deer chasing another and figuring it is a buck chasing a doe, when, in my experience, it is much more likely it is one buck chasing another. Last night I passed on two 2.5 year old six points...and what a show! They really tied into each other and the bigger one without brow tines chased the other. Their antler crashing was loud, they snort wheezed a bunch of times, and took off, he!! bent, one after the other.

[LET EM GROW]

its crazy how much different body size can be between deer in the 1.5 year old age class.. some are real dinks with tiny and or good head gear, others are much bigger bodied with tiny and or good size head gear for the age structure..

its nice to see what they turn into and then compare them, a year or 2 or more down the road..

[growalot]

Great showing of difference..and timely...I've had a 5pt around all summer...and this guy showed up last night a spike  and compared to the 5 pt he is looking big to me...with out seeing the 5pt ..does this picture make this deer look big for a spike?

[BizCT]

9 minutes ago, growalot said:

Great showing of difference..and timely...I've had a 5pt around all summer...and this guy showed up last night a spike  and compared to the 5 pt he is looking big to me...with out seeing the 5pt ..does this picture make this deer look big for a spike?

I've never seen a spike that fat by me (3N), but it probably helps that you have hundreds of acres of food plots for them. The deer by me eat acorns, tree bark, and homeowners plants.

[growalot]

looking at the body, his legs look short, body longer...not sure on age actually...Has me wondering

[turkeyfeathers]

I think this spike is quite the butterball 

Edited October 13, 2016 by turkeyfeathers

[LET EM GROW]

Here's a big spike for ya lol

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[Buckstopshere]

I've seen big spikes chase bucks with much better headgear. The old saying that "it isn't the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog" that matters sure holds true with whitetails. Last season was a perfect example. I had an ornery spike that chased every buck off the property. I kept hoping that a decent-sized animal would put him in his place. But it never happened through the final day of gun season. I named him, "Napoleon." It might happen more often than we think. We let some of these little pitbulls walk and they chase some of the better bucks away.

[LET EM GROW]

I agree there bsh, I don't get to hunt near as much as I used to, to get a feel for dominance roles other than. An older deer typically being the bully. Wish I could spend the time again. but I've had it happen in my family farm in 8P Macedon, a few years back.
Glad you brought this up. Thanks lol

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[thphtm]

A friend shot a spike many years ago , nice big body. State rangers aged him at 7 years old ,teeth were pretty well worn down. 

[chas0218]

On 10/11/2016 at 4:13 PM, Buckstopshere said:

It is easy to make the mistake at this time of year of seeing and hearing one deer chasing another and figuring it is a buck chasing a doe, when, in my experience, it is much more likely it is one buck chasing another. Last night I passed on two 2.5 year old six points...and what a show! They really tied into each other and the bigger one without brow tines chased the other. Their antler crashing was loud, they snort wheezed a bunch of times, and took off, he!! bent, one after the other.

Wow in 8F I had 7 in a field taking turns sparring with each other kind of cool to see. They weren't going full out just kind of messing around. The last 2 to step out were much much larger deer. I couldn't see the racks as it was about 7:00pm and I didn't really want to spook the deer by climbing out so I just sat and watched through my binos. Really cool experience.

 

Here is a 2 1/2 year old and a 3 1/2 year old. The 2 1/2 year old actually has a nicer rack than the older 3 1/2 but the bodies don't compare. My guess is the 2 1/2 will score around 110" the 3 1/2 will score around 105" missing the brow.

Edited October 13, 2016 by chas0218

[Buckstopshere]

Another big buck for my neck of the woods came in last night.  Probably a 3.5 I'd guess. His tines are short. I cut and pasted a long-nosed doe like I did the small buck that came in to the overhanging branch a little past daylight to show the size difference. I know down in the lake plains bucks are larger. But they seem to be getting bigger here.

Edited October 15, 2016 by Buckstopshere
A better look at him.