Same deer?

[Bowhuntrben]

Combing through pics, I was wondering what you guys think. These photos are a year apart. Do you think it's the same buck?

 

[Corn king 60]

Eyeguards say yes. Set the same on the beams and angle is the same
I think it’s the same.

 

[WNC2500]

Base of eyeguards say yes. Brows say yes. I even think G2 on drivers side says yes

 

[Dave N]

Yup.

 

[Walkathon]

Yes

 

[Nick87]

I say yes. If you want to know for sure ask @antlerradar.

 

[bigsky2]

I’d say yes

 

[antlerradar]

I am with corn king on the eye guards, fist thing I noticed, Second was the drivers side G2 like WNC2500 said. Biggest difference is the additional tine on the passenger side, but extra tines happen, It is always better to look for similarity than to focus on a few differences. I think it is a very good chance it is the same buck.

 

[Corn king 60]

I know a deer is a deer but I think he even carries his body in the same lazy posture and the head and face are just too much the same to me also. I’m even more convinced the more I look at him.
Is the OP going to give us the answer or maybe he doesn’t know.

 

[rogerthat]

Yeah that’s the same buck

 

[Bowhuntrben]

So the results are unanimous right now at yes it's the same buck. Here's the curveball....the picture as a 9 point are from this year, and the picture as a 10 point are last year....

I have seen deer get smaller before and even lose large points, but this would be the most transformative change I've seen seemingly at an age I would've expected some growth. I think it is the same deer but wanted to check to make sure I wasn't seeing something that wasn't there.

Minus the extra point on the right side, to me it looks like you could just about swap antlers out and not notice. He is on the narrow side both years as well. I was originally thinking the buck had just not showed back up this year as I was expecting something much bigger. Now I'm hoping this is him and next year he'll get back on track where he should be. Some of the bucks I've known to get smaller in past years have exploded the following year. I'm hoping that will be the case with this one. It will be my oldest son's first year hunting the property next year and would love for him to have a really big one to chase. This one will no doubt get shot whatever he looks like next year given the opportunity for him. Good chance he won't be seen in person, however, as we never saw him last year or this year (we didn't try to this year, though).

Other pics of him from this year make the deer look older to me than he appears in this particular picture based on his body. Just looked to be an "older deer" before I even thought about it possibly being the one from last year.

He did show up about the same time of year this year and on the same part of the property.

Another note is the good buck we got this year also had essentially no growth from last year as well.

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Ok. Just did some digging to find more pictures from last year to compare. It's him.

Last year:


This year:

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Last year: I guess I didn't remember him looking this small last year.


This year:

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Last year:


This year:

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Now that I've had a chance to dig, it doesn't seem like he "shrunk" as much as the original pics made me think he did. Hopefully he doesn't flatline and stay the same next year...