![]() ![]() Have Realistic Expectations of Bucks in New York ![]() See DEC's Guide to Aging Deer in New York (PDF). Spread almost as wide as ear tips on 2.5-year-old, wider if olderĪfter the shot, check out the teeth of your deer to see whether it is a yearling or older buck. (Photo courtesy of the National Deer Association) These bucks from Washington County, NY demonstrate typical age-related differences in body size and antler growth. Work with your neighbors and hunting partners to cooperatively reduce harvest of young bucks, meet your antlerless harvest goals, and improve habitat conditions.In many areas, taking an antlerless deer instead of a young buck would help meet overall management goals and bring the deer population into better balance with the habitat, which in turn improves deer condition.Improve the habitat by creating young forest and enhancing natural forage and cover for deer.Many New York hunters are already choosing to pass up young bucks. ![]() These bucks create more rubs and scrapes and vocalize more - all things that add to the hunting experience.Īs more hunters choose to pass young bucks, all hunters will enjoy the opportunity to see and take more older bucks. Older bucks are more challenging to hunt and yield more meat for the successful hunter. You Can Change Your Deer Hunting Experienceįor NY bucks to get bigger bodies and larger antlers, they simply need to get older. Hunters can continue to push the harvest ratio solidly toward older bucks simply by choosing to Let Young Bucks Go and Watch Them Grow. But the good news is that this is changing and hunters are now taking more older buck than ever before. The primary reason New York doesn't have more older, larger-antlered bucks in the harvest is because many get taken as yearlings. Yearling bucks generally weigh about 20% less and have 50% smaller antlers than they would as a 2.5-year-old.
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