4.5 years old. He is stream line for sure but that probably has more to do with the food in his area. He is an older buck. Tim
OK, we had a couple of you very close. This deer is 5.5 years old. My in laws live in the middle of nowhere in the heart of the Adirondacks, and this buck is part of a small family group that has lived on their property since he was a button buck. He's easily identified by his torn right ear that got damaged when he was 2.5. He actually still hangs with his mother and siblings which is weird, but I've seen this now with three other bucks on this property. He starts hanging around consistently when the small apple orchard in the back of their yard starts to drop in mid/late summer, then stays till the rut starts. He usually disappears then (even on the game cams) and then shows back up just about first snow and yards behind the house with the same family group that consists of his mother and siblings. For the record, no I don't hunt this place despite my inlaws telling me to. The deer all have names and have damn near lost their fear of humans, this guys name is "Boo". I try not to hunt deer with pet names.....lol. I do find it interesting what different deer look like. I think the typical features we look for in a deer to age it are very innacurate, and without looking at teeth, etc......the only thing you can really tell by features is that they are 2.5+. This guy as an example had a three point rack about ears high as a 3.5.
Great post matt. Very interesting. I've always stood by the fact that unless you send a tooth away for Cementum Aging or have pictures such as these, you are plain guessing no matter what the deer looks like.
I've saw tooth aging be just as messed up as ones guess. I've had most of my bear aged by a biologist's at the University of Minnesota. I figure their batting .500 with their EDUCATED guesses.
Not sure which method you're talking about. I'm not talking about aging by judging tooth wear. With Cementum Aging they cut the tooth and count the rings like a tree. http://www.whitetaildeer-bullseye.com/
So its not just the people up there that are inbreeding. Cementum Aging is over 90% accurate. Thats about as good as it gets in the free range deer aging world.
