old buck

Is he just not big enough to shoot? down there
hes a nice buck

Well he has lived a long, promising life and with your help he will be remembered by people all over the country. I'm sure that he has offspring all over East Texas as well. What is the average lifespan of a Whitetail anyway???

he is plenty big enough to harvest but he's not legal to shoot...in my county a buck has to have a 13inch or greater inside spread, and deer CAN live to be i think the record is about 22yrs or 24yrs old? ....but in the wild they only live to be about 10yrs old if they are really lucky, before their teeth just wear down and they can no longer eat, so they just starve...i think the average lifespan of a buck around my area and in the surrounding counties is probably only 3.5 yrs old, which is sad b/c these good looking young bucks never get a chance to grow even better b/c the hunters think that someone else is going to take 'their' deer so they harvest them when they are young and look decent....but of course the average lifespan of a deer is going to vary in every location..

I don't know much about how animals react to pain but that buck's tail is tucked and he just seems to be in pain. Where I hunt in PA a 3.5 year old buck is an old buck and would have decent set of antlers. I'm not a trophy hunter but I like to fill a tag with a mature buck in my area. To allow a buck to die of old age because his antlers didn't make it seems strange to me. I don't like to see suffering and nature can be pretty brutal on animals. Myself, I would harvest the buck rules or no rules.

i agree with you HM, all these bucks that i have on trail cam and have photographed all are on my grandpa's place....he will not let me shoot one deer. It really doesnt make any sense to me why i can't go...he says that if i go then he has to open the offer up the rest of the family that live 300miles away and only come down for thanksgiving and christmas....but belive me I would have harvested this buck last year (that was the 1st year I had ever seen him in person) if I got the chance...MAYBE MAYBE, prolly not though, he will let me go this year, but i kinda doubt it...:crybaby::sad: but im gonna try asking again

I just noticed that in the last pic his hip seems all jacked up too.