There's no doubt that genetics, nutrition, weather, and age all contribute to great scoring antelope. With that said, I harvested 2 of my biggest bucks in historic dry years. I drew what I would considered to be the top 2 or 3 best B&C producing units in Wyo a couple years after those drought years and only found 1 buck out of around 700+ I viewed that ended up scoring 80". There was great moisture, fantastic genetics, 5 mild winters and all the stars aligned for what I thought was a great year to burn a bunch of pref pts. Pretty much all my predictions on which years produce whopper B&C horns went out the window.
I actually made several posts on several websites after that season because I was so be-wildered. The funny thing was that everyone else seemed to see the same thing. I only heard of 1 other B&C buck harvested in all of Wyo that particular year. I even contacted the antelope guru himself (that published the antelope article mentioned above) to get his opinion on what was going on. According to the antelope guru, if a fawn buck is born in a super drought year his horn pedestals will be smaller than if born in a year with great moisture. From that year on the buck will have smaller horns than if born in a year with good moisture.
Once I started thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. That explains why it was possible for 2 of the highest scoring bucks I've shot were in super droughty years. They may have been even bigger if there would have been decent moisture but historic drought conditions didn't prevent the bucks from producing exceptional horns. This past year was an example of bucks born several years after super drought years and born in a year with excellent moisture. There has been excellent moisture the past 4-5 years. I saw more B&C bucks this year in the area I hunted than I've seen since the drought. If this winter remains relatively mild and the 2 to 5+ year old bucks survive I would expect there to be lots of B&C bucks harvested throughout Wyo in 2017.
I guess time will tell if the drought year-fawn buck scenario is true. So far it seems to make sense. This doesn't really answer the prong length question. If you ask me, long prongs are a generic thing. There are quite a few units in Wyo that likely never have bucks with 6-7" prongs while they are more common in other units. 6-7" pronged bucks seem to get "culled" from the herd pretty quick so I would expect them to be more common in units with good prong genetics plus lighter hunting pressure. In units with high hunting pressure/tags there is likely a lot less chance for bucks with great prongs and prong genetics to live through the season.
I actually made several posts on several websites after that season because I was so be-wildered. The funny thing was that everyone else seemed to see the same thing. I only heard of 1 other B&C buck harvested in all of Wyo that particular year. I even contacted the antelope guru himself (that published the antelope article mentioned above) to get his opinion on what was going on. According to the antelope guru, if a fawn buck is born in a super drought year his horn pedestals will be smaller than if born in a year with great moisture. From that year on the buck will have smaller horns than if born in a year with good moisture.
Once I started thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. That explains why it was possible for 2 of the highest scoring bucks I've shot were in super droughty years. They may have been even bigger if there would have been decent moisture but historic drought conditions didn't prevent the bucks from producing exceptional horns. This past year was an example of bucks born several years after super drought years and born in a year with excellent moisture. There has been excellent moisture the past 4-5 years. I saw more B&C bucks this year in the area I hunted than I've seen since the drought. If this winter remains relatively mild and the 2 to 5+ year old bucks survive I would expect there to be lots of B&C bucks harvested throughout Wyo in 2017.
I guess time will tell if the drought year-fawn buck scenario is true. So far it seems to make sense. This doesn't really answer the prong length question. If you ask me, long prongs are a generic thing. There are quite a few units in Wyo that likely never have bucks with 6-7" prongs while they are more common in other units. 6-7" pronged bucks seem to get "culled" from the herd pretty quick so I would expect them to be more common in units with good prong genetics plus lighter hunting pressure. In units with high hunting pressure/tags there is likely a lot less chance for bucks with great prongs and prong genetics to live through the season.
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