Is this buck- bald-faced, old, have a chance to be a shooter, none of the above?????

[JIL_24/7]

Got this buck along with a few others in about a 24 hour span a couple weeks ago. Thoughts?
https://imgur.com/a/GxVnKyZ

[kennyj]

Pics in April?
Wide for sure.
kenny

[Everett]

Old deer for sure

[JIL_24/7]

That's just it. It seems where I have my camera ALL the deer are late in antler growth. I'm wondering if it is the super late spring. Snow just came off where these were taken early June. Wondering if anyone else is seeing this?

[Redthies]

What are the spots all over his face? Definitely an older deer, but not the healthiest looking I’ve seen. A euro mount candidate for sure.

[ACB]

Could be he's just starting to grow his summer hair, deer look pretty scruffy in Apr. and May.

[Darksith]

I don't think its that old of a deer. He doesn't have a big pot belly like an old man or many scars

[Husky7mm]

He is behind on growth for late June if your hoping he will be a big mature buck. I have seen some does with patchy hair on there nose, I think it’s a time of year thing, along with maybe insects irritating them to rub their face. A 3 or 4 year old buck.

[Codes44]

Deer always seem to look mangy in spring when shedding their winter coats, I wouldn't focus too much on the condition of his coat. Depends on what you mean by shooter, do you want meat or a mount? lol He likely won't be anything to write home about if that's late June.

[walks with deer]

Depends where you are and what your goal is.

Shoot him eat him i will bet his steaks look great.

[pro 111]

What we notice here o the islands with blacktail the lower the deer in elevation the sooner there racks mature. I think it greens up earlier lower so they feed earlier on the grub they need to grow racks. Not a biologist. just an observation.
That's just it. It seems where I have my camera ALL the deer are late in antler growth. I'm wondering if it is the super late spring. Snow just came off where these were taken early June. Wondering if anyone else is seeing this?

[ACB]

What we notice here o the islands with blacktail the lower the deer in elevation the sooner there racks mature. I think it greens up earlier lower so they feed earlier on the grub they need to grow racks. Not a biologist. just an observation.
Exactly, the more right food, the better the condition of the deer and that includes antler growth. Coupled with a mild winter and wet spring and summer will have better vegetation growth. The year Milo Hansen shot that record buck outside of Biggar, it was the perfect conditions for antler growth and the deer having the right gene's, that's how he shot a young deer that turned out to be the #1 B&C typical WT deer.

[JIL_24/7]

This is the kind of stuff I was wondering. Thanks for chiming in guys. We are above 1000 meters and the snow was covering feed until mid June. At just 600 meters the antler growth is bigger. I will be back up next week and will hopefully get more pictures and see what it looks like. The fact that in the States they feed deer things to get bigger antlers tells me that a late Spring would potentially effect antler growth. The question to be answered is if they can catch up. This is our first year up here, so not a lot of history to go off of.

[tigrr]

Seen some that due to bugs scratched all the hair off their faces. Does and bucks.

[Timberjack]

I don't think its that old of a deer. He doesn't have a big pot belly like an old man or many scars

Thats exactly what I thought. Just really scruffy which makes him look older than he is. At this point he should have more growth.. Might make a decent 3 or crab claw 4??

TJ