For those that still have check stations (tooth check)

I know its fast becomming a world of tella check, calling in your game to check them in. But for those who still have to drive to an actual check station, how many of yours will still actually do a tooth check for aging? Im lucky to have one 5 miles from home. Its a fish and wildlife area headquarters and they will age your Deer if you ask. They are even taking gland samples to send in with your permission, if your not going to do a mount. I know Duke checks his own, I dont, I let the check station do it, but was wondering how many actually are told what they are killing age wise, via a tooth check???

 

You might not believe this blood, but the game biologist tonight told me she thought the doe I killed was 7.5 years old. All the deer I kill on the military base I hunt must be checked in physically. They tooth age every deer, every year. She was the same person that told me she thought the buck I killed was 3.5, and I know she was right on that according to my thoughts, and many on here.

 

Think that nanny hasnt been through some **** over the years. I'd say probably 95% of the people on the forum have never had one checked. Lots of guesses out there

 

Thats cool, You got one of those old matriarch Does that are pretty dam witty Thats OLD,,,,,daaaaammmm!!

 

My main hunting partner Dan (Jaws is his SN here) has a degree in Wildlife Management, and worked for NY DEC aging roadkill deer by looking at the lower tooth wear. When I list age of a buck I've taken, it's one that he has looked at and aged by him. I really thought my 07' buck was 3.5, but his check of that jaw showed us it was only 2.5.

 

There is a check in station not too far from where I hunt that usually cuts the jaw bone and checks them. A lot of taxidermists will age them too, not sure about their accuracy though.

 

Can he shed some light on how they do this? I worked a few check stations, and I cannot figure out how they do it.

 

I would love to get one of those charts and learn it myself

 

I'll see if I can get Dan to post up on here tomorrow and share more info. I've heard him babbling about it enough times, I should know more myself but it's just easier to show a jaw to him and have him tell me. :D

I do know it has to do with cusps, crests, and how wide the dentine is compared to the enamel on the teeth, but other than that I don't really know specifics. I believe the main difference between 2.5's and 3.5's is that the dentine will typically be wider than the enamel on teeth 4 and 5, but I'll let him clarify more.

 

She was onnly 75 pounds field dressed. Her shoulders and hips looked run down. She was pretty long and thin.

 

Jeff doezilla is dead, Uncle Richard is taking it to the check station. I am curious to find out how old she is. The biggest doe i have seen, she has put on weight since then. She is a beast, LOL

 

We don't have check stations anymore.

I'm just a friggin' dork when it comes to the whitetail.

Have bins full of antlers.. dead heads.. and of course.. some jaw bones.

I have to hide them though.. otherwise the wife will slaughter me for keeping the jawbones. She thinks we have enough dead things in the garage.

I might remind her it's MY space.. honey...

Every year I have to pull it out.. reread some things on teeth and then I'm set for most the season. I can age them in the field pretty quick.. when dead of course.

My estimates compared to the walking animal (when alive) are usually dead on.. or at most a year off for bucks.

Although.. sometimes one will totally throw me.. those are usually the really old bucks. They can be tricky.

But I try to learn from each one.. and I learn more from the mistakes than the others.

 

In the area of WV that I hunt they do a mandatory check in the first few days because of CWD. They age by teeth, weigh, and cut out samples to test. Last year my sons 90" 8pt aged at 2.5....the year before his spike aged 2.5 also. LOL

I agree. One of the does killed on our property in WV about 5yrs ago was aged by dnr at 8.5....and it weighed about 75lbs dressed. I saved the jawbone, its teeth are worn WAY down.


Blood...you can get a really good laminated age chart through QDMA. Has great info on it....details on how to tell what you are looking at.

 

I have that chart, my issues is it does not take local diet of the deer. A deer in west MI eating acorns and veggitaion from that sandy soil, will have more tooth wear then deer on my side with dark soil.

As for older does being smaller, would not that run true for bucks also?

 

Yep Germ, you are right. But it gives you a real good guide to go off to get a close estimate. Seems to match up pretty well in my area with the ones we've had aged by the dnr.

I don't think deer typically get alot smaller with age, I just think that this particular doe we got was not that big. Of course, the big does in our area are about 90lbs...so its not a huge diff. She had a fawn too, amazingly.

 

Ill have to dig out an old pic and scan it of a Doe my son killed 5 or 6 years ago. It was aged 7.5 or older, her teeth were wore down to nothing. My Father inlaw shot a Doe the other day aged at 5.5, it was almost as big as a 2.5 eight point my son had hanging. Matt, is Jaws doing any good this year? he is one of my pics in buckeyes contest

 

Tooth wear aging is very inaccurate. Even when done by experts. While it's pretty easy to tell a 1.5 year old from the others... it can be downright guessy when you're looking at 3.5 and older deer.

I look at the jawbones of most of my deer. I guesstimate age on them and I think I'm pretty close. (hey, I had a whole portion of my college ed. on aging deer and fish) Still, if I really wanted to know I'd send a tooth in for a cross section aging.

Anyhoo... where I hunt (University of IL property) they take tissues samples, do tooth wear aging and also pull a tooth for a more accurate cementum annuli testing. Kind of cool.

 

We hunted together all week long last week at both his camp and mine. So far, tag soup. We will be back at it once the orange army is done. We both had more encounters with more 3.5 bucks this year than the last 3 years combined. He had a 115ish 3.5 walk by him at 30 yards at my place on Thursday last week.........and his bow was still on the ground. lol. :D

 

We have check stations, but they only require the weight and sex of the deer (if it's a buck, they also need to know the number of points).

Our check stations are pretty much a joke (atleast mine is). The hunter has weighs the deer themselves and tells the clerk al the info they need. I have never even had anyone come outside and see if I actually have a deer! I could tell them I had anything in the back of my truck.

The last time I went, the lady pulled out two books and said, "Uhhhh......is it a deer or an elk?" (It's not elk season!!)