Guess the age of this buck. Key things to know: Shot in Northern Wisconsin, 40 acres of crop land for 15 mile radius. Had it aged by Whitetail Institute.
Just a thought. A buddy of mine sent in teeth from deer that were captive and the age was known. The labs were off by as much as three years on some deer. That being said, its really hard for me to tell from a deer that is dead on the ground. Much easier to get a reasonable idea of age from a buck on the hoof. But, since he seems to have really large bases, I am guessing this is an older buck that just did not have the genetics to produce a huge rack. I would not be surprised if you tell us that this deer was aged at 6 or more.
Hm, not sure what to say to that. I've never heard of a lab not being accurate. If that's the case, then anyone aging deer other than high fenced/captive deer is completely wasting there time. Also, we've had 3 deer aged by Whitetail Institute and all deer seemed to be spot on.
I've spoken with wildlife conservation officers and lab biologist that have both concluded that when determining, by teeth, after the age of 4-1/2 their purposed age-estimate can be more than 80% wrong. So with your above statement, yes, yes it does seem a bit of a waste of time to age. But knowing a ball park time of the deer's age is always a joy in-and-of itself.
This buck came back with an age of 8.5 years old. I have no doubt we saw him year's ago "shining" across from our property and believe we saw him once while grouse hunting on our property as well. Whitetail institute emailed an writer for North American Whitetail, who called as requesting the story of this buck. WI said they only receive a hand full of teeth each year that age bettwen 7.5 - 9 years old. I think it's incredible that this buck lived 8.5 years old given we only have 1 40 acre crop field within a 15 mile radius. The winters in Northern Wisconsin are also incredibly brutal (especially with no winter food), which also makes this buck really cool. This was THE FIRST real "trophy" our hunting party of 8 had shot in 7 years of hunting and was a memory we'll never forget. I'm so glad my Dad was the one who shot it--I have all my life to shoot one and wanted the memory with him (I have yet to shoot what i consider to be a nice buck). I was chasing this buck bow hunting and couldn't get him, and set my dad up on a small clover flood plot I created. He came in thrashing/busting everything in his path chasing 2 does. I'll try and get a better picture of him on the wall and post it.
