Old-timer Bucks

September 23, 2009

Question: I have a question about a buck I saw years ago. He was an old fellow, gray face, neck and chest, and always with the same group of does. The top of his horns looked like the bottom of a castoff antler. The horns were 16-18 inches tall and fairly heavy. I watched him for two weeks once trying to make out a fork, but couldn’t. By the letter of the law he wouldn’t have been legal, but how about by the intent of the law maybe? At the time I thought about asking a warden but figured he would be tough eating. Later my dad said old stags like that were good eating. It’s now 40 years later, but what is the law? (Michael P., Redding)

Answer: You did the right thing. The law requires that a legal buck must have a branched antler in the upper two thirds on at least one side. If you’d shot that buck, it would have been illegal under California Fish and Game laws.

According to Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Deer Program Manager Craig Stowers, there’s a good chance that the buck you encountered was an old-timer who technically had lived past his reproductive fitness. But remember, laws are designed to fit the majority of the situations hunters are likely to encounter, and so they must be enforced as written. In this case, the deer is protected to live out its life.