This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 9:11 pm and is filed under Hunting Scopes, Leupold Riflescope. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The three major factors in determining the size of the buck’s antlers is age, nutrition, and genetics. Since the majority of hunters has no control over the genetics of a free range heard; age and nutrition are the two factors most hunters should consider when harvesting bucks.
Even with good nutrition a yearling up to 1.5 years old will have a relatively small set of antlers. The age of a buck is the easiest, cheapest and quickest to way to get a large rack. If you are hunting on private ground where there is a limited number of hunters refraining from shooting younger bucks gives them time to grow and develop a larger rack.
Research has shown that the average yearling buck expresses only 15 to 25 percent of its antler growth potential. However, this increases to 40-50 percent at age 2.5 years, 70-75 percent at age 3.5, and up to 90 percent at age 4.5.
BuyRitescopes.com supports allowing young bucks to live another year or two before harvest, protecting antler growth and improving the enjoyment of your hunt.
