I have killed 3 forky bucks that were over 4 (blacktail) and one of the biggest framed bucks I have ever seen was a forky.
I would say the vast majority of thin horned inside the ears fork bucks are 1 and 2 yr olds, but there are exceptions

 

Points aren't an indicator. Saying that, the small forks typically are 1.5 year olds. I'm talking the small baskets. the ones that look like spikes with a couple extra points. But we've killed many 2.5 year olds with spindly racks. I've also seen multiple 1.5 year olds with 8 points. Genetics, nutrition, and when they were born play a role. That tiny spike with 3 inch little spikes was most likely just a late born fawn the year before. At year 2 they are bigger but still not what many 2 year olds are as they're still catching up. Those deer in the body look like they could be 2.

 

Most of the time (at least in illinois) bucks with that characteristic of rack that range from a spike to a small 6pt are typically 1.5 years old. Usually the check stations will look at the jaw and estimate the age which has been proven to be inaccurate time and time again; the only truly accurate aging tool is cementum aging of the teeth. Granted you can't age a deer based on antlers, in 25 years of hunting in Illinois most bucks of that antler size will be 1.5 years old.

 

the only truly accurate aging tool is cementum aging of the teeth.

That ^. Tooth wear and jawbone aging is notoriously inaccurate. I think I read once that a panel of biologists were something like 21% accurate with tooth wear aging known age whitetails, essentially proving it to be a bogus method. If your lab didn't do cementum aging, I wouldn't trust it.

It's also been my experience hunting OH, TN, & WI that spikes, fork horns, even small basket racks are generally 1.5yrs. Sure there are exceptions but they are pretty obvious. Number of points doesn't really matter much either.

Typically in the midwest (including IL) most forkhorns are yearlings. But no hard and fast rules..

This "forkhorn" is quite large... and definitely not a yearling.

View attachment 7519670

That's not a fork buck. That's a mature genetic 6pt. with a well formed, healthy looking rack. As I understand it, fork horns are 4pts.

 

Typically in the midwest (including IL) most forkhorns are yearlings. But no hard and fast rules..

This "forkhorn" is quite large... and definitely not a yearling.

 

That's one of the coolest bucks I've ever seen!

 

Cementum aging is just a more educated guess. It's not entirely accurate. All it can tell you with certainty is the OLDEST a deer could be. The rings only represent a period of stress. Each winter contributes one ring, but an injury can also.

I've never heard the term "forkhorn" refer to anything other than a 4 pointer with two forks on each side. If it has brow tines it's a 6 pointer.

 

we call a forky with eyeguards a forky still, but i agree, in the whitetail world, when you count eyeguards as points, maybe it isn't a forky if it has eyeguards

 

short answer - NO....

 

a yearling in Illinois should be around 120lbs a 2 year old would be around 150-160ish, so yes they may have even been 2 year old twins

 

The bucks you pictured are 1.5 yr olds 99.9 % of the time in the midwest.

You will know if their 3rd premolar is still a tricuspid. At age 2 it falls out and is replaced with a bicuspid.

There are many many big old fork bucks, especially mules and blacktails, but the deer you are pointing out are almost always wearing their first set of antlers. THE END!

And congrats on your bucks! Whatever the age! You guys look proud and thats all that matters.

 

I believe 1.5 rounds up to 2 when expressed as a whole number.

 

born in May/June and to be a half would have to be taken in November/December, not the next June. If taken in October he would be 1 year old in that case.
if that was the case I should have been legal to buy beer 6 months prior to my 18th birthday

 

there's a thread from last week that was something like

what's the biggest 4 point you've ever seen?

there were some monsters

 

The deer in you're photos are 2.5 years old I think. Something has just stunted their antlers some. A 1.5 year old buck with his first set of forks they will be a little more spindly, but will have the signs of a healthy but immature state. The nose is longer on older deer and the joints look heavier bulkier, bigger hooves. I would bet on it. Deer will vary in appearance from area to area, but the distance from the nose to the eye is a pretty good indicator when trying to figure one on the hoof.

 

The deer in you're photos are 2.5 years old I think. Something has just stunted their antlers some. A 1.5 year old buck with his first set of forks they will be a little more spindly, but will have the signs of a healthy but immature state. The nose is longer on older deer and the joints look heavier bulkier, bigger hooves.

I get what you're saying but I see it differently. The chances that a 2yr old could be big & healthy but not a typical 2yr old rack seems really irrational. More sensible is that those bucks are early born to a healthy, experienced, matriarch doe. The difference between a spring born bucks & summer born bucks is tremendous. The spring born bucks will likely be bigger their entire lives, and arguably will always have an advantage over the summer bucks. The biggest, oldest, healthiest does almost always get bred first and get bred by the monarch in the area, often before "rut" even kicks in. Summer bucks are almost always born to fawns who reach maturity in time for the second or third rut, and sometimes to inferior does who don't get bred first go round. The spring bucks are already eating vegetation before summer bucks are even born. They go into winter much more prepared and able to deal with the conditions. Naturally, by the time they're old enough to grow some horns, the spring bucks are way bigger bodied than the summer bucks.

Here's a very good example. Both these bucks are yearlings. One has forks & the other has a fork & spike. Notice the size discrepancy. One was born in spring to a healthy matriarch, and the other born in summer to a first time fawn. By our unit of measurement for hunting purposes, they are both 1.5yr olds, even though one is closer to 2 and the other closer to 1.

 

I shot a fork this fall as well and was wondering it's age because it's body size didn't really match the antler growth. Everyone that saw the deer commented on it being a big body for a forky. Also had some run ins with a 6 that had a bigger body than the rack would indicate. I'm guessing they were 2.5 year olds but the racks just haven't caught up.

In that area we do see quality bucks so I know there is potential. Could just be the deer bulk up first then build antler growth. At least that's my theory.

 

The vast majority of forks I have seen are 1.5 year olds.
Off the top of my head I can think of 3 that were 2.5 year olds. In those incidents they had the body of a 2.5 year old and their antlers were similar in size and width of a buck the same age with 8 or 10 points they just only had forks.
My brother in law did shoot a fork one year that had the body of a 3.5 year old. Same situation with its antlers as the 2.5 year olds.

Going by the OPs pics I would guess those bucks to be 1.5 year olds.

 

The third premolar (third tooth back) will have three crowns on a yearling (1.5) whitetail. A 2.5 year old or older will only have 2 crowns on that tooth as it will be replaced.

 

Here's another example that shows a pretty nice 2.5yr old 8pt sparring with a stud 1.5yr old spike. They're the same size. The spike might even be a touch bigger bodied. I'd say he's no doubt an early spring buck.

 

Here's another example that shows a pretty nice 2.5yr old 8pt sparring with a stud 1.5yr old spike. They're the same size. The spike might even be a touch bigger bodied. I'd say he's no doubt an early spring buck.

View attachment 7519891

the buck i killed this year was not without the assistance of a little 1.5yr old crab claw fork (i thought it was a spike for awhile before he turned just right) i watched him for 5+ minutes march with purpose, pause, and climb straight up a vertical hillside... i'm watching him through binos on my tripod... first thing i saw all morning, and it was almost 10am.

he gets almost to the top, then turns right and starts walking that way, as i'm watching him, i pan into another deer... holy ****! big buck! that little crab claw forky hackles up and just attacks that big buck, i could hear antlers crashing... it wasn't sparring, he was trying to hurt that big buck.... pretty crazy, early in the season, a long ways from the rut, or even good pre rut action.... just started seeing some skidded up buck tracks a few days before, and had not put eyes on anything older than 2.5yrs to that point.

they locked up again, and after i shot the big buck, it took me 20ish minutes to get to him... i got over there and slid my buck down that steep face on to an old grade... i was standing there checking him out, and catch movement (now talking to my wife on the phone) and here comes mr forky, right to me, and stood there with his ears pinned over 5 minutes watching me stand over that buck he just whooped, haha... one of the craziest things i have seen considering the whole situation

 

If I lived in Illinois I can promise I wouldn’t be shooting a fork horn😂 come on fellas

 

We get two buck tags per year, so this year I figured I'd get whatever I could for meat and then hold out for a big buck. No regrets so far. I passed on a very comparable fork buck a month later and am still hoping to bag a beast. This is bow hunting after all, it's not like we can sit out for one weekend a year and point/click our way to a victory like the gun hunters!

 

Sort of funny when someone thinks they’re impressing people yet all they’re actually doing is showing everyone what a dbag they are.

 

i saw a buck yesterday that had four normal nicely shaped points on one side and a tall forked point on the other. Very weird

 

I saw a similar buck last year. had a beautiful 4 point side. Had a long spike with a small fork on other. Big thick body too. Weird antler went straight up, barely any curving to it. It came in and worked a scrape at 15 yards and stood there for 5 minutes. I decided to be pickier and it was early in my rutcation so I watched it. I then had 70 degree temps come the rest of the week in Wisconsin. By the end of my vacation I was wishing for him to show back up. I'm guessing injury caused this. Several years ago I had a large bodied deer come in that had probably 12 inch spikes with split forks on each side. I passed him too, but he wasn't 1.5. Comparing him to the numerous year old bucks I see every year he was thick, long, and much bigger headed. When you see a lot of yearlings in a year you can tell if you cut out antlers. Injuries, nutrition, and time of birth really affect this. It really fascinates me how racks are formed. I remember seeing a fight where a tall wide buck went fact to face with a thick basket rack. The thick basket rack was a bigger body and more dominant, and the larger rack went running after briefly tangling. You could shoot a 130 good genetic 2.5 or 3.5 year old, and it's not as impressive as some older small racks. It's why shooting huge racks is always part luck.

 

Never seen a forked horn yearling....

 

Almost every fork horn is a yearling, barring anomalies. Fawns have buttons their first fall. Their second fall they are considered yearlings and will have either spikes, forks, or a tiny rack.

 

Definitely not a 1 1/2yr old.
Beam was over 22” and mass measurements were 5.5”+ to the fork. Never did find the other side or ever lay eyes on the deer. Some deer are ghosts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Got pics today of this big fork.

 

No But Several things can effect this;
was it an early born fawn or a later born fawn
food sources and access to that food source
gene pool of both doe and buck
as not all places have the same great soil or minerals or food sources. like here in Michigan part of the state has Sand as most of the soil. So tough to judge or know why some Bucks get great ANtlers and others don't or have a sticky point or a drop tine etc
or is it just nature at Work?
I seen in game camera videos, a 4 point no browtines and it was well past it's Ears. so is that considered a fork horn buck?
LFM

 

I'm still in disbelief how many people don't know what a yearling is. a deer between 1-2 years is a yearling. A button buck is a fawn. So that small racked spike, fork, six, is most likely a yearling. Not a hard and fast rule though, as several are poor genetics, recovering from injury, sick or malnurished, or simply born late as a fawn, so need to play catch up. I've seen several older deer with small racks. And if you see a lot of deer in a fall, you can tell. Thicker bodies, bigger heads. But 90 plus percent of forks are yearlings most likely. To the op, I wouldn't doubt at least the second pic is a 2 year old. He's thicker in the body that most yearlings imo. I would bet he was one of those tiny spikes as a yearling. The ones where you need to double take to see rack. It happens. I think most of these deer were conceived the second or third rut and born late.

 

Why would a deer that’s almost 2 years old, be considered a yearling?

 

because until your 2nd birthday, you're still only 1 year old. Saying that, most are talking about deer's ages during hunting season. Most round to the half year for that. 1.5 year old, 2.5 year old, give or take a little depending on time. The following spring, when the deer is close to 2, nobody is hunting so it's not really talked about whether it's a "yearling" or not. They're growing their second rack and are done being a small fork at that point. The next fall, when people are hunting again, it's no longer a yearling, and it talked about mainly based on it's age.