basket racks

[gahunter]

I recently killed a basket rack 8 pointer. It had decent mass, but only an 8 1/2 inch spread. If I let the deer walk would it have a chace at being 15 + spread or is it bad genetics?

[hoss]

My experience has been that they will get bigger but that they will never have that trophy mass that we are all looking for to put on our wall. Some may disagree but that is what I have noticed from seeing the same bucks a couple of years in a row.

[carnivore]

What i've noticed with out checking teeth is if the deer was no heavier than 125# and shows all the caracteristics on the body of a yearling then you may have shot the trophy of a life time way too early, You'll have to chk with a biologist to get the exact numbers in percent but a whitetail supposedly has the ability to channel most of its calcium intake to build its frame (skeleton) during the first 3.5 to 4 yrs. then the majority of the calcium intake goes into antler production for the rest of about 6 to 7 yrs. and then you start seeing the sway backs with funky antlers from 8 on out I think I read that at www.whitetail habits.com

[RUTTIN'BUCK]

Actually, I've noticed you can start seeing swayed backed at 4 1/2. Younger bucks have that puppy dog face. Mature bucks get that ole box head, sometimes sunken fore heads a bit. They just look differnet.