When we kill bucks with big antlers, are we removing genes for big antlers from the deer herd? Some hunters worry about that, believing that killing big bucks leaves inferior bucks to do the breeding.

If all things were equal, that might make sense. Kill the big bucks and, over time, lesser bucks will do more of the breeding. And their offspring will have smaller antlers. But one thing that’s not equal is age, so big antlers are more about age than antler genetics.

We shouldn’t assume smaller bucks left at the end of the season are inferior bucks. They are as likely to carry genes for big antlers as the big bucks headed for freezers and taxidermy shops. After all, they are the sons of those bucks, but most are too young to show their antler potential.

Big bucks who go home with hunters have sired many bucks in earlier seasons. And they have already deposited their genes into the living incubators that will bear the next generation of deer. That means the genes that were in your grandpa’s 1946 record-book buck are still in the deer herd today.

Here’s a general rule you can bank on: young bucks have smaller antlers, and older bucks have bigger antlers. The primary issue is not antler genetics. It’s age. Even a spike buck can end up growing big antlers. With a few years and adequate nutrition, he might become a record-class buck, but as a young spike he has the same genes as he’ll have when he’s a mature deer.

Another thing to keep in mind is that pregnant does also contribute to the antler genetics for their young. According to people who manage controlled deer breeding programs, a doe carries at least 50% of the genetic contribution to her offspring’s antlers.

To produce bigger bucks, age is more important than genetics because most small bucks are young bucks, not genetically inferior bucks. And that’s why letting small bucks live produces more older bucks with bigger antlers.

That’s what one state has done. Prior to 2002, Pennsylvania was known for small bucks. It should have been known for young bucks because about 85% of the bucks killed were only in their first year of sexual maturity–far from their prime. Killing so many bucks in their youth doesn’t make a state with small bucks; it makes a state with immature bucks. A hunter harvesting a young buck could have no insight into the potential of his buck.

Not allowing bucks to grow up creates another problem. Studies have shown that when the burden of planting the seed for future generations of deer falls mostly on the youngest bucks, it has a harmful effect. How?

It’s common knowledge among deer hunters that deer get run down during the rut from aggressively seeking any breeding opportunity. A 1½ year old buck–the equivalent of an early teenage boy–is not ready for this intense and important responsibility.

Although he’s capable of siring young, he’s not finished adding muscle, his skeleton is still growing, and he can’t afford to lose 20% or more of his body weight. By the time the rut is over, a 130-pound yearling (we’re talking about on-the-hoof body weight, not field-dressed weight) that has been chasing and breeding does, and being challenged by other bucks, might diminish to 100 pounds.

That much stress causes a setback to bucks that haven’t finished growing. Then, at the onset of winter when finding food becomes a challenge, he has more to recover from than a mature deer has. If an immature buck and a mature buck both maintain their post-rut weight until spring, the mature buck will end the winter in much better condition because he was mature enough that the rut didn’t cause him a developmental setback.

In a herd with more older bucks, more of the breeding responsibility falls on older bucks. That’s good for young bucks because more of them are spared the developmental setback that the rut can cause. Otherwise, if a few tough winters or other hardships cause them to carry that setback into maturity, they might never reach full maturity and turn out to be inferior bucks.

Small bucks are not inferior, they’re just young. So if you want small bucks, kill lots of young bucks. If you want bigger bucks, and better health for all bucks, create a way for most young bucks to be able to grow up.

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When “The Everyday Hunter” isn’t hunting, he’s thinking about hunting, talking about hunting, dreaming about hunting, writing about hunting, or wishing he were hunting. If you want to tell Steve exactly where your favorite hunting spot is, contact him through his website, www.EverydayHunter.com. He writes for top outdoor magazines and won the 2015, 2018, and 2023 national “Pinnacle Award” for outdoor writing.