What Do You Consider a Mature Buck?
October 23rd, 2006 David King - King's Outdoor World
I was reading the local paper on Sunday and read about the opening day of the deer hunt here in Utah. There was an article that talked about some of the success that happened on opening morning of the rifle hunt. Here is an excerpt from that article:
As of 1 p.m. on Saturday, hunters checking in at the Division of Wildlife Resources checkpoint in Spanish Fork Canyon had taken 12 deer, all but one mature, said Hadley [Mark Hadley of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources] . The information was reported by Scott Root of the Springville office of the DWR, who manage the checkpoint.
“Only one was a yearling, born in the spring of 2005,” Hadley said, “The other 11 were at least two-and-a-half years old, and most of the animals were three point or better.”
Hunters are happy to find mature animals because they are usually larger, he said.
I kind of had to do a double take, but did the Utah DWR just state that a 2 1/2 year old buck is considered a mature buck? What do you consider a mature buck?
Entry Filed under: News and Stuff
16 Comments Add your own
1. Casey | October 23rd, 2006 at 12:49 pm
I think a mature buck should be 4 1/2 . on my farm here in oregon we try to not shoot anything younger than this. i am not very good at judging age though. so i look at the face and the back and belly. if the belly is sagging and the back looks like a horses, sagy. then i pretty much consider him a mature buck. points on antlers dont seem to matter a whole lot because i see a couple of monster 3 points on my farm and i have seen one for 3 years so i know that he is an older buck. any advise from anyone on how to more accurately judge a mature deer that would be nice..
2. Hayden Johnson | October 23rd, 2006 at 9:15 pm
I agree with Casey, a mature buck is not 2 1/2 years old that is just crazy. I am a hunter from Spanish Fork and their have been a few decent bucks killed that I’ve seen and heard of, but, if you ask me i think the Utah DWR has done a horrible job managing the deer herds in the open areas. On the other hand the limited entry areas are booming with big bucks because they manage those areas to keep the nice bucks around.
3. jb | October 24th, 2006 at 1:18 am
actually a buck reaches maturity when he is able to successfully reproduce. all too often maturity is associated with antler size and body size, when in reality it is strictly reliant on the ability to reproduce. remember that the Utah DWR are a scientific community that gives scientific answers. they are qualified believe it or not to say these deer reach maturity at 2 1/2 years. one last thing, management in any ecosystem, or the spanish fork for that matter is a difficult task to accomplish. our addiction to recreation and our anthropocentric views lead many ecosystems into a state of chaos, causing a lot of these deer populations to stay adolescent. human intervention within these ecosystems are causing these deer to remain young, thus recreation and humans in general are to blame. limited entry units are far more productive for trophy deer because the intervention humans have on the deer is far less than general units. give a hand to the DWR, with out them we may not have deer at all, they would have been killed by all of the irresponsible poaching community years ago!
4. Casey | October 24th, 2006 at 8:25 am
I do agree with you jb. there does need to be some balance. and i guess that from a scientific standpoint that what they are doing is right for them. but when it comes to my own farm and the other farms that i have been involved with we have realized that taking just a few of our mature bucks out of the heard and a few old dry does that we are acrually making the herd stronger as a whole. i am seeing more big bucks because we are not killing all of the big bucks every year. and i have also noticed that the younger deer seem to be growing better horns and they also just look to be healthier. so i dont know if it our management plan that is helping or if it is just mother nature working on it for the last 5 years. But i see where the problem would be on trying to manage mature deer populations on public land because there are to many hunter who just want to take home a deer. they dont care if they are actually hurting the herd by taking a immature animal. they just get to tell there friends that they got a deer. if we all started working a little harder at being more responsible outdoorsmen and manage our deer herds a little better (that we have already somewhat messd up) then i think that in the long run it would benefit all hunters.
5. SS | October 24th, 2006 at 10:34 am
I totally disagree with jb and his ecosystem theory. I have been all over the western states. If his theory is correct than none of the other states would be producing larger animals. Everybody I talk to has one common view. “When it comes to Mule Deer, Utah is the worst managed state.” For example, this weekend in Southern Utah, I saw 60-70 deer and still saw more hunters then deer. On one hill where a large buck was spotted it had 13 trucks on it. I think it’s time the DWR cuts back on some tags. So hunters can harvest an animal that is truly mature, not just able to reproduce. I think most hunters would agree a truly mature buck is not one the is 2 1/2 years old.
6. jb | October 25th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
there may be more deer than hunters than deer in Utah but understand that ecosystem manangement is a paradigm just recently gaining acceptance. the problem where there are strictly less deer than hunters is a result of bad management i agree, but i was trying to say that management can take you as far as you want. if we all work together to let these populations reach maturity by not shooting the first animal we see, incredible improvements are in the near future. if the Utah DWR doesn’t show enthusiasm to change, why don’t we take initiative as a community, and better the hunting possibilities for ourselves.
7. Alex | October 26th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
You have to define ‘mature’. I think in this age of trophy hunting and QDM, we’re not talking about reproductive maturity, but rather physical maturity. By the age of 4-1/2 a buck is within one year of maximum antler potential. He will have a short roman nose, a sway back, a pot belly, and a noticeably larger front end than back end. We all know we’re talking trophy maturity. 3-1/2 and younger do not meet this criteria!
8. Josh Hammond | October 27th, 2006 at 7:33 am
i believe that a buck is mature when it has a sagy belly and a straight back. Notice that when bucks are young, their backs seem to have a slight hump from the back of their necks to their butts.
9. Alberta-wes | October 29th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
#3 JB.
Gotta agree with you. Sure seems to be the way it is up here as well. Alot of headway was made in the implementing of the draw system on certain species and areas. There just seems to be more people wanting to utilize the resourse than it can sustain in areas. Worst fear is all may be lost though, due to this darned game farming, and CWD thing. F&W just finished, or mabey just started, a substantial cull on our southeastern mule and whitetail herds. Fortunatly the disease has breached the Alberta border where authorities have a fighting chance at protecting our herds. We need game farming abolished. Sure wished Government looked at our outdoors and the fish and wildlife she contains, in the same light as outdoors people do.
10. Alberta-wes | October 29th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Oops, babbling to myself and sort of got off topic there. But it would be nice to see more money put into fisheries and wildlife management. There are ALOT of problems that need addresing, at home here anyways.
11. d muley | October 29th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
First I would have to agree with alex a mature buck in my opinion would have to be at least 4 1/2years old and probably closer to 5 1/2 or 6 to reach full maturity second I think SS hit right on the head about the utah dwr, the only thing they care about is the $$$$$$$$$$$$ not the wellfare of the deer or the success of the hunter , it doesnt make sense when there is 55,000 buck deer in the state of utah and the dwr issues 97,000 general season buck deer tags. The deer doesnt have a chance to reach maturity and the hunter doesnt have a chance of seeing a buck that has reached maturity either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
12. IbagHUGEbucks | October 30th, 2006 at 10:10 pm
at least 6months.
13. bob shepp | November 3rd, 2006 at 3:11 pm
i would have to disagree shooting a 2 and 1/2 year old buck is just stupid let them grow up and get a chance. a mature buc is 4-5 years old
14. clifford | November 4th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
in my opinion a mature buck is between 4 1/2 to 6 years old.
15. nick hill | November 6th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
I think a mature buck ranges between the ages of 5-7 years old, depending on the area, and the genes of that area. After this age range, the bucks begin to go the other way, and lose tine length, mass, and # of points.
16. THeBEAr | November 6th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
i agree that mature deer have a sagging belly and back. They are much heavier in the front than in the back disreguarding the mass of the rut swollen neck. What I have found also after shooting mature deer is that the mass of the rack and the “garbage” like stickers and cool little points don’t show up on younger deer. They come on deer 4.5-6 years old. Thanks for reading what I had to say.
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