When I was a budding deer nut, most hunters I knew didn’t know how to age a deer. I remember my uncle Lawrence walking up to pretty 6-point he’d shot, ticking off the points on the rack, grinning at ...

The oldest wild whitetail ever documented lived to be 24 years old. That’s impressive—but also the exception, not the norm. In North America, wild deer usually have short, hard lives as they navigate ...