This might be a very stupid question and one with no real answer at all. Last spring I got my first buck that was a yearling. I have no idea with being so new to raising deer weather he grew a good first rack or not but by looking at many pics on here he was very much on the small side in comparison. My questions is when does a buck make his biggest jump and is it realistic for a buck to put on 40-50in of antler from yearling rack to 2yr old rack?
They could grow way more then 40 to 50 inches on one year some bucks grow double or triple that in one year . There is lots of variables though health, genetics, food just to name a couple .
Joined Apr 2009
624 Posts | 0+
Clinton, PA
I personally think they have good jumps from 1-2 and 2-3 after that it is not as big of jumps. Here is a buck I sold last year. As a 2 year old he went just over 150" and then at 3 we scored him at 244" so there is 90 some inches in just one year.
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You should get a bunch of opinions here. We track our antlers quite closely from sheds to harvest. Last years avg. yearling on our ranch was 154 sci gross. Our 2-1/2 yr old avg was 188" . This is from a sampling of 64 bucks. The 2-1/2 yr olds is reduced a bit as 8. Bucks were either sent to the preserve as 220" plus or pulled for breeders. That would bring the avg up by 20 or 30 inches. The jump from 2 yr olds to 3 yrs old seems to be about 30-40". Mostly mass and extras added in that year.
Thanks for the feedback so far. He dropped his antlers just about 2 weeks ago and I'm already excited to see what he does this coming summer. I found def one thing I need to work on in this deer farming deal is I need to get more patience. Also here is a pic of him this fall and the background on the buck he is out of. I don't have the background on the doe on hand right now. For myself I can look at the name of deer in his background but I have no idea what it really means if that makes since to you guys. I do know the farm I got him from has some beautiful looking bucks on his farm.
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Joined Sep 2010
572 Posts | 0+
Indiana
I never judge a bucks potential by his yearling rack. I am happy if the yearlings make it to hard horn with no damage more than anything.
Joined Oct 2014
103 Posts | 0+
Garrettsville, OH
Depends on what you are breeding for. If you are breeding for clean 10pts then you wont have as much a jump.. IMO 100" per year is a realistic objective. My 170 clean 10pt at 1 put on an another 100" at 2 but has probably 40" of extras compared to none at 1.
Every blood line is different but I've have quite a few yearlings smaller then yours go 170 to 210 inches @2
If he dropped his antlers back in January you may be dealing with something other than genetics. Healthy farm deer don't generally drop antlers til March or even early April. Your feed should be suspect or the health of your buck. If one of ours sheds antlers in January we start looking for health concerns.
Arrow we did have someone open our pen up a day or 2 before x-mas and he got out (thought someone shot and took him). He showed back up by us 2 weeks later and was able to dart him and get him back but it was the coldest night we had to that point -15 low. Then did make the mistake of not treating him for pneumonia as precaution and he did about 8 days later start showing signs of maybe starting pneumonia. Did treat him and he looks very good now. Also he did lose weight during Nov and he did drop weight well missing for 2 weeks but he has filled out more over the past month now. I'm thinking it was the stress of the above things that made him drop early. Like I said he looks very good now and I think our feed is good and isn't the cause but again being new I could be wrong.
I really like the look of Whiskey River and is why I really wanted a deer out of him. I guess just really wanted to hear what others with experience have to say and just don't want to get my hopes/expectations to high. Finding there is a lot more things to raising deer then I even thought but still looking forward to learning more.
I really like the look of Whiskey River and is why I really wanted a deer out of him. I guess just really wanted to hear what others with experience have to say and just don't want to get my hopes/expectations to high. Finding there is a lot more things to raising deer then I even thought but still looking forward to learning more.
This past week he developed noticeable nubs and take it he is starting growth on his next rack. Isn't this very early to be starting? I figured it would be another month yet.
