Is this “mature” buck 4 1/2 or 5 1/2? Or could he even be 3 1/2? Most experts agree that trying to determine the exact age of an older-age-class buck that you’ve never seen before (one 4 1/2 or older) is a difficult job at best. So the question becomes: Is he mature enough to shoot? It may take a 5 1/2-year-old buck to answer that question.

Each season, veteran trophy whitetail hunters set out with a goal of slipping their tag on a "mature" buck. Yet it seems to me that many hunters have different ideas (or no idea at all) about what a mature buck actually is. Many hunters even use antler score as a bar by which to judge the animals they seek. For instance, you'll hear a lot of bowhunters say they are looking for a buck that simply qualifies for the Pope & Young records.

Obviously, these hunters consider such a buck to be "mature," yet in many parts of the country (and especially in the Midwest, where I live), a 2 1/2-year-old buck can easily grow a rack that would exceed the 125-inch P&Y minimum. I think I can say with confidence that a 2 1/2-year-old buck is not a mature whitetail.

As the trophy whitetail hunting community matured over the past few decades, hunters began putting more emphasis on a buck's age vs. its score in determining whether or not that animal is mature enough to hunt. Since I talk to a lot of serious whitetail fanatics every year, I've noticed that more and more advanced trophy whitetail hunters are "age obsessed" when talking about the bucks they are hunting.

A good example of this comes from my own experience two seasons back when I walked away from the opportunity to hunt a buck that probably would have scored over 180 inches. I did so because I was absolutely certain that he was only 3 1/2 years old. That season I focused on and later tagged a buck that ended up grossing 152 inches. I targeted that buck because I was certain he was 4 1/2. Before you start thinking that I am nuts to think that a 3 1/2-year-old buck can score over 180 inches, let me say that this was a buck I had gotten to know fairly well, and I was (and am) confident of his age.

I actually held in my hands one of his shed antlers that he had grown at age 2 1/2. I also have numerous trail camera photos of this buck, and I twice videoed him at less than 20 yards when he wore that 180-class rack as a 3-year-old. By the way, as a 2 1/2-year-old, his rack would have scored in the 130s (which would have qualified him for the P&Y records). Going into the upcoming 2008 season, he'll be 5 1/2, and I still hope to get a crack at him! And this year he could well be a B&C qualifier!

Even with the all of the advances we've made in "age appreciation" on the part of maturing whitetail trophy hunters (pun intended), I still see some marked differences in opinion regarding what age a buck has to attain to be considered mature. I've already hinted that I'll pass on a 3 1/2-year-old buck but have no problem harvesting one at 4 1/2. I'll explain my reasoning later in Part 2 of this series, but first I'd like to share some opinions of other serious whitetail hunters I greatly respect, whitetail hunters who have tagged more mature bucks than most hunters will ever see.

SEEING IS BELIEVING
Illinois resident Tim Walmsley has had his hands on as many monster whitetail racks as anyone I know. Tim is an official scorer for both the Boone and Crockett and Pope & Young clubs. He's also the founder of the Illinois Deer Classic, and he established the Illinois Big Buck Record Book. When Tim talks about mature whitetails, I listen, because I respect his vast knowledge.

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