Drop tine bucks.

[okrattler]

My buddy has one on camera he's going after. First off, I don't know the first thing about deer. I know they eat corn and the general things everyone knows. But I do know here deer with drop tines are pretty rare. I couldn't tell you how many deer/bucks I've seen in my lifetime. In the thousands probably. I've only seen one drop tine buck ever in my life. It was out mid afternoon and I thought that was pretty awesome. It ended up getting shot a few months later. The only side that wasn't broke was the side with the drop tine on it. With a full head of horns he would have scored around 180". The only reason I know that is because my buddy missed that same deer when its horns weren't busted up.

How many drop tine bucks have you shot and or seen in your life? Are they more common in some areas than others in your opinion? Again, this is coming from someone that's just out and about a lot and sees a lot of wildlife. I'm not a deer hunter by any stretch of the imagination. If someone doesn't tell me I wouldn't have a clue what a deer scores or how old it is. I just know bucks as small, medium and big. So my assumption they're not common is just an observation from the deer I have seen. There may be more than I realize but it doesn't seem like it.

[okrattler]

What's bad is if I was by myself and saw a deer that scored 180" and it was standing by a deer that scored 150" and had drop tines, I'd shoot the drop tine buck. That's why I just tell my buddies where big deer are. I don't know squat about it.

[M16]

I’ve seen 100+. They are almost common on my South Texas ranch. My hunters and I killed three double drop bucks in one year. Letting deer age to 7.5+ and a wet year makes a huge difference when it comes to having drop tines.

[PYBUCK]

We talking free range or high fence. I've seen dozens on high fenced places. I've seen 5 or 6 free range and shot 2 of them.

[okrattler]

I’ve seen 100+. They are almost common on my South Texas ranch. My hunters and I killed three double drop bucks in one year. Letting deer age to 7.5+ and a wet year makes a huge difference when it comes to having drop tines.

Dang, that's a lot. We did have a lot of rain this year but my buddy really didn't think this deer was but 4 years old or so. Which I know genetics and all that have to come into play too I'm sure. And he could also be off on what he's aging that deer at too. I really don't know. He showed me a picture of it and it sure enough had a drop tine. He seemed excited about it so I'm hoping he can get an arrow through it soon. He really don't think it's quite old enough to shoot but where it's at it won't be alive next year either way. Someone's going to shoot it no doubt.

[okrattler]

We talking free range or high fence. I've seen dozens on high fenced places. I've seen 5 or 6 free range and shot 2 of them.

Just free range here. The tallest fences here are only about 5 foot tall and they're made of barbed wire. It'd be nice to have a high fence every now and then though. My buddy has a nice deer on camera every year. Unfortunately so do the guys huntin the next property over. LOL

My buddy grows deer for those guys most of the time, unintentionally.

[cstrey18]

They seem to be pretty common in parts of Texas, especially South Texas. I’ve had pictures of 3 in north central Texas and killed one but the drop was broken off. I bet they would be a lot more common but they usually don’t get old enough around here.

[Big pig]

I’ve seen 100+. They are almost common on my South Texas ranch. My hunters and I killed three double drop bucks in one year. Letting deer age to 7.5+ and a wet year makes a huge difference when it comes to having drop tines.

Agreed. The reason most of us have seen few is we seldom see an old buck with great nutrition. We had a low fence lease for many years that had lots of stickers, kickers and forks, but few drops. Or older bucks. I have passed a few younger deer with small drops.
Luckily the biggest drop I have seen( 6” ) was killed with me in the blind! That’s after 60 years of hunting