Just for the sake of discussion let's just say when looking at photos of bucks in velvet that any estimation of tine length,mass and over all score could be over exaggerated by more than 2.5-3".
Cameras add 10 lbs to us when we're on TV and it's been apparent that trail cam pictures can trick our eyes as well. It's been my experience when holding,examining and scoring a bucks rack after seeing velvet pictures of him that it does in fact seem like it's closer to 10-12" difference like Josh mentioned above. I also think it depends on the size of rack and the number of points as to how much inches a person can be off when estimating as well. So us deer junkies have to take both the velvet and photo distortion into consideration when sizing up a deer.
I'm no expert or hold a doctorate in wildlife biology but this just what me and several others have noticed over the years. It's like "ground shrinkage" but it's more like "screen shrinkage".
It's nice to see you stop by again run hunter! How'd you guys do last year? If I remember correctly you're from NJ and hunt a nice property owned by your GF/finesse' family or something. You and a buddy were running cams and had someone check them for you since you guys lived so far away...I think. Never heard much back from you or somehow just missed it.
I agree, regardless of how much they lose, they do look much bigger in velvet. Whether they lose 2%, 5% etc, who knows, but IMO actually losing 10" or more just from velvet is a lot, I tend to think about half of that is pretty fair and it's been pretty close. Always fun to talk about though...
Thanks for remembering FS, yes NJ here, and I didn't make it out last year because I had no one that could go with me. I'm not afraid of the dark, or being alone, but with very little cell service, and no one knowing where I am, something told me maybe it wasn't a great idea. Naturally, I painfully make the decision not to go, and soon after, I get a picture from my Uncle in early November of a 160 ish 11 point, with a split G2, crab claw on right side etc that was killed on the farm. Gorgeous deer!! The first year we hunted, we killed a 140" 10, and a nice 8 muzzleloader. The following year I missed a pretty good 10 opening week, hit a branch and came up empty.
Very good memory though, a few years ago, yes, you are correct. We were going to have Uncle John check the cameras for us, but I didn't want to be a burden on anyone. 3 weeks after we hung the cams, we packed a lunch and drove back out to Ohio, checked the cards and drove back to NJ the same day. I will be back out this year, and am changing things up a bit. I'm coming out a bit later in the year, let the crops get harvested, temps drop, hormones kick in etc...I saw the family on vacation a few weeks ago, apparently the state is being more stringent with crop damage tags this year, so while it may not be great for business, it may help me. Who knows..
