This is a Central Illinois buck that was shot this past November by Matt Miller.
With years of trail camera history and several encounters, Matt has a good estimate of how old he thinks this deer was in 2022 when he shot it.
Take a shot at guessing how old this deer was in 2022, and check out what our aging experts think!
This buck exudes a flat back but there appears to be some drop in its large stomach. Its neck appears as large as its chest cavity, and there is some drop in the skin below the lower jaw. Exhibiting heavy hams and a nose that is semi-rounded and slightly sloping downward, I would estimate its age to be six years.
The key indicators to me for estimating this deer’s age are its neck size and leg-to-body ratio. The neck appears to be more uniform with the overall body size while the legs are starting to look more proportionate. I would age this deer at 4.5 years old.
Overall proportions on his body with the thicker neck, deep chest, this was the first year where his rack started to get smaller, plus the fact that I first saw and passed him in 2019 and had thousands of trail cam pics over that four-year period up until I harvested him.
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