young roe buck

[Stuart Philpott]

Les if you see this,this is the young lad I've been quizzing you on.

Back story for others, I'm very curious as to the age of this buck, I believe I caught up with him and his mum, but the antlers are confusing me,If you can give an age on this buck please chime in.

Made around sunset over a wall on the side of a road in the wolds. Slight crop for comp 1/1250 f 5.6 iso 6400 crit welcome

_S2I8299 young buck smj Tdn by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr

Thanks for anythoughts in advance

take care

stu

 

[Lepus]

Hi Stu nice photo . My friend who is a very knowledgeable on Deer ,and has managed Deer parks in the past for years , told me that ageing Deer by their Antler growth , size or points is like an old wives tale . Although age obviously plays it part , Antler growth is all dependent on genetics and food supply amongst other things . Park Deer generally have much bigger Antlers than their wild cousins for their age , because they are fed and looked after , and the weak and old Animals are removed . I believe also for example , German Red Deer seem to grow better racks than what we get here , which again is probably genetic . Of course this is only relevant after the Antlers have begun to branch . Any animal that has not branched is likely to be only 1 or 2 years old .

 

[Stuart Philpott]

'ello mate. cheers on the frame

..............all understood Mark, I've tried to educate myself about all this ,so i've an awareness of much of what you have said. It's that one or two year old thing i'm struggling with but only with relevence to roe

Roe strike me as so different to the larger deer we have here mate,not least the delayed implantation of embryo the rut being in summer and their antlers

Mark if you get chance can you ask your friend about young roe please, for the life of me I can't pin down if a yearling has 2 or 4 points or if either is possible.? He might stand by the above " old wives tale" ie there is no way to tell.

Buddy I've made so many roe images I just feel I should know this ,it's driving me nuts . See if the above buck is two,it contradicts what I believed to be the case,ie what Les outlined in my other thread . that the young lads get driven off by mature males at around a year old. Funny I nabbed another buck a 4 pointer last weekend which is huge compared to this...I thought roe did 2 points first year 4 second and then mature until around the 4 to 6 year mark when we start to see 6 pointers,but i'm now questioning all this

thanks for the thoughts buddy as with Les grateful for your time