Based on size and tooth wear, how old do y'all think this MT mule deer is?

[watson138]

Tagged out in MT yesterday, very happy. First time completely packing out an animal alone. Had a blast! ( It was terrible and I rolled my ankle )

Based on tooth wear when comparing to my other euro mounts, I think he might be the oldest buck iv harvested so far. I don't know what I'm looking at as far as determining an age. What do y'all think?

 

[Scottf270]

3 1/2 to 4 1/2 at most

 

[littlebigtine]

Tooth wear is very dependent on what they eat and where they live.

Ive seen 8 and 9 year old bucks with visibly less wear then 5-6 yr olds. Only true way to know is to get it tested!

My best guess is 4 1/2

 

[wytx]

Need better pics on lower jaw.
We hunt rocky terrain and deer's teeth can look like they have been chewing on rocks literally when only 4 yrs old.
Show a clear pic of that lower jaw, not the upper.

 

[watson138]

Need better pics on lower jaw.
We hunt rocky terrain and deer's teeth can look like they have been chewing on rocks literally when only 4 yrs old.
Show a clear pic of that lower jaw, not the upper.

 

[bergie]

Pull out one of the lower front teeth and send it here https://matsonslab.com/ $75 and they will do 4 critters. I started doing it last year and will continue now if for nothing else than its cool to know for sure how old each animal is. For example, my buddy killed a large bull last year, we got it aged and it was 10.5 years old. I admittedly have limited data points but to me that is ancient considering the high pressure area we hunt. I would love to know how many arrows and bullets that guy dodged in his lifetime.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Yeah, I'm with others, 4.5 maybe 5.5. I killed a WT buck on my place in 2007 that I know for sure I had seen in 2000 (very unique) as an 8-pointer already and several more sightings. He was a cagey SOB. He may have been 10+. Teeth were just nubs. Don't think he would have made it another year. Moose I killed in 2016 was 11.5, same thing. Teeth were so brittle I couldn't pull one as required. They kept shattering.

 

[freezerfull]

Judging the face, he’s mature and about as good as he’ll ever get. Likely 5.5+, possibly a 4.5; much harder to guess without seeing it in person. Good shoot and congrats!

If you do send in a tooth please let us know the results!

 

[S.Clancy]

Based on those teeth I would say he's def older. 3.5 and 4.5 yr old bucks have much sharper molars than what I see. He's getting close to where his teeth are going to start affecting his nutrition. I would guess 5.5 or 6.5 but could definitely be older.

 

[wind gypsy]

Doesn't seem that even cementum aging is all that accurate.

The Big Fat Cementum Aging Tooth Test (How Accurate Is It Really?)

By Joe Elsinger One of the more recent activities to hit the world of deer hunting is cementum analysis of teeth to estimate age. The science of it has been around for decades. Cementum aging counts rings (annuli) in a deer’s teeth, similar to the annual rings in the cross section of a tree...

www.themeateater.com

 

[TaperPin]

This is interesting. I need to spend more time looking at Bucky McBuck Face’s choppers. That tongue looks crazy though.

 

[bergie]

Doesn't seem that even cementum aging is all that accurate.

The Big Fat Cementum Aging Tooth Test (How Accurate Is It Really?)

By Joe Elsinger One of the more recent activities to hit the world of deer hunting is cementum analysis of teeth to estimate age. The science of it has been around for decades. Cementum aging counts rings (annuli) in a deer’s teeth, similar to the annual rings in the cross section of a tree...

www.themeateater.com

Well dang I could have gone without reading that and been blissfully ignorant. I’ll have to put in my notes that each age has a possibility of a 2 year variability.

Had it not been for sending in two teeth of the same deer to get aged and both coming back with different results I could poke holes into his article but those are hard to argue with.

 

[wind gypsy]

Well dang I could have gone without reading that and been blissfully ignorant. I’ll have to put in my notes that each age has a possibility of a 2 year variability.

Had it not been for sending in two teeth of the same deer to get aged and both coming back with different results I could poke holes into his article but those are hard to argue with.

I found a different one from Iowa State that at least how it was framed sounded more positive. 60-some Percent were within the same year and mid 90s percent were within 1 year when they sent multiple teeth in from same deer at different times. That's just sample to sample variability of the same deer though and doesn't cover if they are just getting the age wrong on a given animal.