To get huge bucks, if that is indeed the goal, age is definitely one of the important factors, but it is not the only factor, and may not even be the most important factor.

Genetics more than likely leads the way. Without the propensity for size via genetic disposition, the other factors, age and nutrition, mean nothing. No matter how long Gary Coleman lived, or how much and nutritiontioally correct his diet was, he was not going to attain the size of Shaq. Just wasn’t going to happen due to genetic limiters.

The same is true with deer. If the DNA says no brow tines, that deer can live to be 1000 while located in a feed mill and there will be no brow tines.

If the deer DNA says the right antler structure is weak and it will have a tendency to snap off during normal deer activity, line removing velvet, no amount of minerals, protein, or birthdays will change that fact.

My father, brother (they have both since passed), and I have collected over 100 sets of antlers from the same 2-3 square mile area in Clearfield county. Those antlers date from 1964 to 2015. There are four distinct genetic traits — 1) very nice, wide and heavy; 2) very narrow, thin, and tall; 3) low and short tines with the one side breaking off right above the brow tine with the other side being complete; and 4) fairly normal with one side breaking off above the brow tine (opposite side of the previous trailed buck) and the other side snapping off just ahead of the G-2.

It didn’t matter how old these deer were, they had one of the four types of antlers. With those genetics, only cohort group #1 would ever be a trophy deer — and it would need age and nutrition to get there.

Group #2, while being legal with regard to number of points, will always be 6-8 inches wide no matter how well they ate or how long they lived.

Group #3, will be legal with regard to AR, but because only one side is legal, would probably get passed on most of the time, especially by gun hunters in the woods, due to the uncertainty of whether the one side was legal or not.

Group #4 will never be legal under AR, no matter the food or age.

With groups #3 and #4 not being harvested on a regular basis (haven’t seen a junior hunter there since I was one), their population grows unfettered. Group #2, while not having unchecked population growth, probably had a better survival chance than group #1 based on the narrowness causing some doubt on legality.

Since group #1 is always legal and most easily seen as such, the pressure on their population is the highest. At some point, economy of scale takes over and although group #1 is obviously dominant, they simply get so outnumbered that the other groups get ample breeding opportunities and that just furthers their numbers, tipping the scale further away from group #1.

Now, the nutrition, both in terms of food and minerals, is bad, but not great in that area. This means that even good genetics coupled with age, still might not produce that trophy buck. All in all, AR and HR will not have the desired affect in that area.

Lately, I have hunted at my home. This area, unlike the one described above, should be ideal for AR and HR to have the desired affect on herd structure. Food is abundant, with the west and south neighbor being a truck farmer growing sweet corn plus a wide variety of vegetables; the east neighbor growing alfalfa and winter wheat; and my property being a mix of quality Timothy and red clover ( which is mown three times per year, even in the woods in order to proved fresh shoots which the deer prefer), along with a sprinkling of this and that commercially sold deer food plot plants. The north side is an oak ridge.

The soil is mineral rich, especially along the wooded creek bottom with more than enough limestone. There is adequate water in the creek and the east neighbor’s pond (which is in the middle of a thicket). To the southeast, there is about a 3-5 acre swamp that serves as a sanctuary area. All properties mentioned are private and posted as solid as Sears used to be.

The age, gender, and herd structure is sound save for one genetic outlier (four points with no brow tines no matter the age or size, some are 18” wide). But there is still a hunting problem.

Since I live here and have a lot of time off, I pretty much see what goes on during the day, at least in the field and wood edge areas. I have four separate trail cams on each of the major travel routes in the woods (I bush whacked them, then planted them with a mix of deer food plot seeds and clover) and two on the field/woods interface to capture what I can’t see in the woods or at night. These stay out year round. I pull cards monthly from January through September; every two weeks in September and October; and weekly in November and December.

Looking over the three years worth of data I have collected, there is always a good buck ir two on camera in March and April (there was a dandy in 2017 on 4/21); up to three non legal or very small legal bucks from the start of antler growth in May (the same doe had triplet bucks in 2015 and 2016, so I suspect that is what is showing up); and then things get interesting in late October.

Plus or minus three days of Halloween, the number of non resident bucks is amazing. In 2016, there were 17 different bucks show up on camera. Some were real monsters. In 2017, there were 22 different bucks on camera during that same time period. In addition, I saw over a dozen during the daylight with eyes and binoculars.

All this points to great hunting opportunities. Maybe. Well, it does if one can hunt those days. If one cannot, the rest of the story is grim, despite the genetics, the age, the nutrition, and the herd structure.

In 2015, 2016, and 2017, NO legal bucks were seen in person by my wife or I and NONE were on any trail cameras later than 11/5. In fact, during those three years, NO bucks were seen in person or on camera from 11/15 until 3/9 of the next year.

In other words, even with everything pretty much perfect, one could have hunted our property every second of gun season and NEVER seen a buck for three years. Further, in the same three years, exactly one buck was killed in gun season off all the surrounding properties.

In archery, yes, bucks have been killed, particularly in the above time frame.

So many things need to come together, and it still might not work out.