I've always wondered about age and trophy potential of B&C pronghorn bucks. It's been an eye-opener once I started looking into this in more detail. Similar to what Buzz and JM have said I always thought that it took 4 to 6+ years to produce B&C pronghorn bucks but it's been a shocker to learn how quickly antelope buck horns develop and how quickly they reach their potential.
Just because 1 or 2 local guys haven't harvested high scoring YOUNGER B&C bucks doesn't really mean a whole lot. I always try to use solid facts, numbers, and literature to support my comments. I've been compiling a spread sheet with a large list of B&C bucks scoring 82+ B&C that had teeth sent in and aged. Believe it or not there are 2 1/2 year old bucks that have made the all-time list and a few 2 1/2 year old bucks have scored over the 90" mark! That seems hard to believe but is a true fact!
You Wyo boys would be pretty surprised how many 2 and 3 year old bucks have actually been harvested in Wyo that score 82+ B&C. These bucks may or may not be where you have been hunting? It may be a shocker to some of you but there is a similar number of B&C bucks in the 2 to 3 year old age class as 5 to 6 years olds. There have been at least 3 x 90+ B&C 3 year old bucks from Wyo and 18 x 2 to 3 year old 89+ B&C bucks harvested from the Western US! That's totally amazing if you ask me! WOW!
I also compiled a large spread sheet of 82+ B&C bucks harvested and tooth-aged from several Western states. One of the interesting things I noticed is there are 3x more alltime B&C 3 year old bucks than 6 and 7 year old bucks combined. There are an equal number of 3 year bucks and 5 to 7 year old bucks. That pretty much tells me that antelope bucks often reach their peak at 4 to 5 years of age and scores tend to decrease at ages over 5 years of age. There are a similar number of 2 year old 82+ bucks to 6 - 7 year olds.
Another interesting statistic from the spread sheet is that 36% of total bucks scoring 90+ B&C were 2 to 3 years of age while only 4% were 6+ years of age. Pretty interesting how many young bucks score so well!
What does this mean to a trophy antelope hunter? I believe it's super important to keep tabs on factors and conditions I mentioned in a couple other posts over a 2 to 4 period of time. These local factors and conditions play a major role in horn growth on bucks in any particular region....especially the first 2 years of their lives that can make or break their potential scores for the. As I've mentioned several times before healthy does translates to healthy buck fawns. Healthy habitat often translates in healthier pronghorn. Healthy buck fawns translate to more massive horn bases from the year they are born for the remainder of their life.
Obviously conditions change from one year to the next. Sometimes it pays off to keep tabs on local conditions and change up strategies to improve your odds of harvesting a B&C. If you have waited 15 years for a tag it may be worth it to know exactly what has been going on in a particular unit the last few years before burning all your hard-earned pref pts! I know quite a few hunters over the years that have drawn premium antelope tags in Wyo and have been super disappointed when they weren't able to find many...if any trophy bucks. Believe me, this happens a lot more often than you may think! Obviously if you draw a premium tag and put forth a lot of time, boot leather, and effort you will likely be rewarded...but some years there may not be B&C bucks available even in top end units. There may be a different unit in a different region that's had prime conditions the past 3 to 4 years that has a lot more potential than possibly even a premium unit. It's always fun having the problem of picking and choosing between several 80 to 85" B&C bucks rather than spending an entire season searching for 1 B&C that "may" or "may not" exist in a unit.
Anyway, I thought I'd share a few things I've learned from the B&C spread sheet. Pretty amazing stuff that has changed the way I research and scout trophy units in Wyo and elsewhere.
Just because 1 or 2 local guys haven't harvested high scoring YOUNGER B&C bucks doesn't really mean a whole lot. I always try to use solid facts, numbers, and literature to support my comments. I've been compiling a spread sheet with a large list of B&C bucks scoring 82+ B&C that had teeth sent in and aged. Believe it or not there are 2 1/2 year old bucks that have made the all-time list and a few 2 1/2 year old bucks have scored over the 90" mark! That seems hard to believe but is a true fact!
You Wyo boys would be pretty surprised how many 2 and 3 year old bucks have actually been harvested in Wyo that score 82+ B&C. These bucks may or may not be where you have been hunting? It may be a shocker to some of you but there is a similar number of B&C bucks in the 2 to 3 year old age class as 5 to 6 years olds. There have been at least 3 x 90+ B&C 3 year old bucks from Wyo and 18 x 2 to 3 year old 89+ B&C bucks harvested from the Western US! That's totally amazing if you ask me! WOW!
I also compiled a large spread sheet of 82+ B&C bucks harvested and tooth-aged from several Western states. One of the interesting things I noticed is there are 3x more alltime B&C 3 year old bucks than 6 and 7 year old bucks combined. There are an equal number of 3 year bucks and 5 to 7 year old bucks. That pretty much tells me that antelope bucks often reach their peak at 4 to 5 years of age and scores tend to decrease at ages over 5 years of age. There are a similar number of 2 year old 82+ bucks to 6 - 7 year olds.
Another interesting statistic from the spread sheet is that 36% of total bucks scoring 90+ B&C were 2 to 3 years of age while only 4% were 6+ years of age. Pretty interesting how many young bucks score so well!
What does this mean to a trophy antelope hunter? I believe it's super important to keep tabs on factors and conditions I mentioned in a couple other posts over a 2 to 4 period of time. These local factors and conditions play a major role in horn growth on bucks in any particular region....especially the first 2 years of their lives that can make or break their potential scores for the. As I've mentioned several times before healthy does translates to healthy buck fawns. Healthy habitat often translates in healthier pronghorn. Healthy buck fawns translate to more massive horn bases from the year they are born for the remainder of their life.
Obviously conditions change from one year to the next. Sometimes it pays off to keep tabs on local conditions and change up strategies to improve your odds of harvesting a B&C. If you have waited 15 years for a tag it may be worth it to know exactly what has been going on in a particular unit the last few years before burning all your hard-earned pref pts! I know quite a few hunters over the years that have drawn premium antelope tags in Wyo and have been super disappointed when they weren't able to find many...if any trophy bucks. Believe me, this happens a lot more often than you may think! Obviously if you draw a premium tag and put forth a lot of time, boot leather, and effort you will likely be rewarded...but some years there may not be B&C bucks available even in top end units. There may be a different unit in a different region that's had prime conditions the past 3 to 4 years that has a lot more potential than possibly even a premium unit. It's always fun having the problem of picking and choosing between several 80 to 85" B&C bucks rather than spending an entire season searching for 1 B&C that "may" or "may not" exist in a unit.
Anyway, I thought I'd share a few things I've learned from the B&C spread sheet. Pretty amazing stuff that has changed the way I research and scout trophy units in Wyo and elsewhere.
