Should be a good one in a year or twol

Lakey

Well-Known Member
I have always believed in leaving promising bucks to realise their potential if possible. Here is a buck I bumped into a few weeks ago whilst out and about and superbly illustrates my point. Not very old, but IMHO a great head in the making. Luckily this buck seems to be occupying a prime territory next to a big wood in the middle of a reasonable bit of ground , so it will be left and hopefully it will be better next year
I fully realise that heads go up and down from year to year, however I feel this buck could be very good in future years?
I would be very interested to hear your comments

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Hi Andy, he does look like a nice lad. a good length to his antlers and only young looking in the face so i would aggree with you if he was on my land (if i had any) cracking pics to mate, like the one of him with his tongue up his nostril :D.
 
Hi, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that this buck is older than you think. in pic.1 his head carriage is quite low, pic.2 his coronets are very close to the skull,indicating short pedicles pic. 3 I think that the left antler shows signs of 'going back'.
Very difficult to age them accurately on the hoof,much easier in the hand! My favorite method is 'either it's a yearling or it's not', them I am quite good.
Good pictures
Regards Jeffrey
 
Looks like i got that wrong then :oops: i see what you mean about the antler looking like it maybe going back, i just went off how young he looks in the face ( a bit like myself ) and thought he may have a better head next time? every day is a school day with this job.
 
I have to say I dont know.....

I watched the animal for quite a bit of time and the frame of the animal was small, it has very small hind quarters, as you can see by the photo of him with his tongue out, and he was also lacking in the shoulder department. Alot of the traits of an older buck were missing with this animal. He went on to have a right scrap with a much older buck further up the field, I will post a couple of the long range pictures I took of both animal fighting so you can see just how small this animal is
 
Here is our man having a fight with an old buck (nearest us with the big rounded hind quarters) You can see the smaller frame of our buck

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Here is another shot of the two fighting, again showing difference in body mass. We were actually trying to stalk the old going back buck on the left when these pictures were taken. He was rutting strongly with a doe, however eventually the pair went into the wood and away without offering a shot. As for the animal we are considering, perhaps a small body could be a good reason to remove the animal however I felt I got the impression of a younger animal, so for now he stays.

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And another of them both in full attack mode, with the doe looking on.These fight pictures were taken at about 180 metres

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Here is one last close up, showing a much more upright head position.

Any more comments on this would be very welcome, as I am not so sure now if it really is as young as I think????

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Just as a matter of interest, when was the photo in reply 16 taken?
Thinking in terms of pre- or post rut.
 
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I think he's young mature meaning just coming into maturity, i would say his body doesn't look thick set enough to be old, albeit he does have a good neck on him, he is maybe a little out of condition due to it being the rut. As for his antlers going back, i don't think so, as his coronets and lower half of his antlers, again aren't very thickset suggesting a younger beasts, i would suggest that he has snapped the tip from his front tine and lost the top tine of his left antler due to over enthusiastic thrashing (typical of younger beasts) and he is obviuosly not scared of a fight (again daft younster willing to have a go), again with the possibility of snapping tips, you see alot of bucks at this time of year with damaged head gear.

Lakey,i agree with you initial thoughs and think he is a buck to watch for next year.

Moose
 
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