"Mature mule deer buck"?

So we always talk about the "mature buck". At what age in the deers life does he become considered mature? A 3 year old deer obviously can still grow a little more but has already seen a few ruts and in ALOT of areas may be more than half way through his life. A 4 year old dear usually has the 4 point frame and big solid body but may still grow yet even more. How many hunting areas realistically can grow deer past 6-7 years?

>So we always talk about the
>"mature buck". At what age
>in the deers life does
>he become considered mature? A
>3 year old deer obviously
>can still grow a little
>more but has already seen
>a few ruts and in
>ALOT of areas may be
>more than half way through
>his life. A 4 year
>old dear usually has the
>4 point frame and big
>solid body but may still
>grow yet even more. How
>many hunting areas realistically can
>grow deer past 6-7 years?
>

Sure As Hell Not the Yellowstone Unit!










[font color="blue"]She put a Big F.U. in My Future,Ya She's got a
way with Words[/font]

In my mind "mature" means at least 5 years old. Killing a 6-7 year old buck is a trophy in itself, regardless of antler size!

Like others I would say 5-6 years old is a mature buck. From my experience mature bucks are abundant in areas/units that don't give out a lot of tags or secret areas that have little to no hunters. We hunt in a "secret" unit where its possible to go the whole hunt without seeing another hunter and majority of the bucks we harvest are fat-bodied heavy horned 170-180 class bucks with teeth worn down and the classic face that a mature buck has. So I think areas where people aren't running around everywhere can realistically grow old bucks.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-30-16 AT 07:18PM (MST)[p]So you guys wouldn't consider a 4 year old buck mature even though he is typically well passed 1/2 his life, Probably close to peaking his prime (physically) and doing quite a bit of the breeding ? Sounds like saying a 35-40 year old man isn't mature.

I mean I know his horns can get bigger still, but does that necessarily mean he's not mature?

>LAST EDITED ON Nov-30-16
>AT 07:18?PM (MST)
>
>So you guys wouldn't consider a
>4 year old buck mature
>even though he is typically
>well passed 1/2 his life,
>Probably close to peaking his
>prime (physically) and doing quite
>a bit of the breeding
>? Sounds like saying a
>35-40 year old man isn't
>mature.
>
>I mean I know his horns
>can get bigger still, but
>does that necessarily mean he's
>not mature?

They Sure Ain't Peaking at their Prime at 4 Years old!

Of Course 35-40 year old Men Ain't Mature!












[font color="blue"]She put a Big F.U. in My Future,Ya She's got a
way with Words[/font]

Elk I'll admit I don't have much experience hunting in areas that hold the caliber of dear we are discussing. Is a 4 year old not physically pretty close to prime? I mean strength, prowess. Maybe a 5 year old will whip him but does a 6 year old? When do they physically start degrading?

I Wanna say Prime Ain't Till 5-8 Years old!

But on Average very few Live that Long anymore!

Ya Gotta Realize Body Size on alot of Utah Deer have gotten Smaller as Well!











[font color="blue"]She put a Big F.U. in My Future,Ya She's got a
way with Words[/font]

In my mind, I consider the 4 to 5 year old range to be the beginning of a bucks maturity. Is the term mature somewhat objective? Probably, but I think that a deer changes considerably in physical appearance at about that time. To me it's not about where he is in terms of lifespan, but when he physically makes that jump.

>In my mind, I consider the
>4 to 5 year old
>range to be the beginning
>of a bucks maturity. Is
>the term mature somewhat objective?
>Probably, but I think that
>a deer changes considerably in
>physical appearance at about that
>time. To me it's not
>about where he is in
>terms of lifespan, but when
>he physically makes that jump.
>

ruby1 I feel the same way. Your post about trophy / age is what got me pondering this but I didn't want to hijack your thread.

In general I consider a buck to be mature when he is 5 1/2 years old. In areas with high amounts of hunting pressure very few bucks survive more than 4 hunting seasons. I've heard others say that when a buck reaches 5 years of age they are more likely to die of natural causes than from a hunter. This is something I agree with. Old bucks have habits that make them much more difficult to kill than the average 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 year old buck.