I'm going to say 5.5, but could be 6.5 honestly. It's one of those iffy cases. Either way it's a mature deer and something to be proud of. I often think we get to hung up on both age and score. If it makes you happy, that's all that matters. And congrats on a nice buck btw! Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
It's not uncommon to get a range of ages, but is generally pretty accurate I believe. And both tooth wear and cementum are far and away better estimates of age than trying to throw out a guess on the hoof Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
I thought that cross sectioning teeth was an exact science. I know aging molars as above can give an age class, exact age determination is never definitive with all the variables. This is the place I used a few years back. Sent in the lower incisors. I wasn't arguing his comment, but want to make sure I have the right info as well. http://www.deerage.com
this thread is proof positive that a VAST majority of deer hunters/armchair biologist's will be wrong most times. if you would have had good trail cams of that buck, i'll guarentee 90% would say that buck is 2.5-3.5. me included.
I agree, his hero shot I would have probably said 2 1/2 without seeing location. Since he is in CT would probably have included 3 1/2. The only picture that shows it's age IMO is the skull mount. Something about his antler structure says he may have been on the downturn. I teresting thread none the less, would have been even more interesting seeing the deer forst, then post the jaws. I've never really tried to learn jaw aging
That's why I always get such a laugh at the "age this deer" threads. When there is the potential variability in the scientifically accepted aging methods, it's just funny to think we can be accurate aging on the hoof. I have a poster in my office, it shows 3 seperate and drastically different looking bucks, with 3 drastically different racks. All 3 were pen raised and were the exact same age. And as far as the cementum aging goes, it often shows a range of ages, not always a specific age. The neat thing about cementum is that it works for all teeth, not just deer Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Thanks for the help guys. I find this all very interesting. In 2012 I shot a 10 pointer on the same property but I never aged his teeth and now I really wish I had. His body was about the same size but his rack was much larger. That rack is the largest I have seen in CT. There are also quite a few similarities in the rack characteristics between these two deer; tiny brow tines, crab claw on the right side, etc. I really wish I had the cementum thing done with him, but I didn't know about it yet. Like I said, I don't run trail cams on this property and I think that is a factor in my success here. There's too many places for them to go and I don't want to be trudging around every few weeks for pictures. I contacted the CT Wildlife Division to see what they thought, as wel. I'm awaiting their response.
