Minimum age for 4pt Mulie?

[Rob]

Any estimates on what age a mulie would have to be for it to be a 4pt? Rob

[Mr. Dean]

He could be a as young as 2......

[mikek blacktail]

2.5 in hunting season

[hunter1947]

3.5 years old has my vote.

[beeker]

2.5 has my vote

[Nalidixic]

3.5 here

Nalid

[mark]

Ive seen dinky little racks (in the 2 point size bracket) that have 4 legal points on it, so Id say by 2 1/2 as well!

[GoatGuy]

In most cases 2 1/2 and in some cases 1 1/2 and some even 3 1/2.


Lots of reading on this.

Mule Deer Conservation
Mule Deer Hunting Review
Genetic Characteristics of Mule Deer in Colorado
Antler Restrictions: Good, bad and the ugly
Mule Deer Productivity

and others

Been studied in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming amongst others.

[Rob]

Thanks for the responses folks. My wife and I were talking about it as 4 pt opens on wednesday. I was thinking 2-3 yrs, but not sure. Rob

[BCrams]

Bucks with good genetics - 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yr olds will show 4 point antlers.

Here's a buck I took up in the Peace that had its tooth aged at 3 1/2 years old when they were still taking teeth. It was shot on Nov 17th during the rut and all other bucks were with swollen necks while this youngster wasn't even paying attention. Young, thin neck, no rips or hide punctures etc ...... I can only think what this buck would have been had he lived to be 6 or 7 years old.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/BCrams/buck1.jpg