Elk Age Thread

[idelkslayer]

Similar to the mule deer deer age thread post up photos of your elk and lab tooth aging results. Bulls and cows will be equally interesting. Share any other interesting details about your elk such as OTC vs LE, terrain type, state, whatever adds to the intrigue.

I won't have any results to share for a few more months, but please share your results from years past and keep the updates coming as results come in from this season.

I

Thread 'Mule Deer Age Thread'

Jun 26, 2025

A few notable people have been doing it for years but there seems to be a growing trend of getting mule deer bucks lab aged. State Game agencies also seems to be using lab aging more and more as a management tool to understand what is really happening with our herds, hunting pressure, and trophy quality. It's also just fun to know more about a specific buck. I jumped on the band wagon last year.

This thread isn't meant to be for debating the merits or management implications of lab aging. Rather, it's just to share the information that we get from aging our bucks. It will be too...

• idelkslayer
• Replies: 32
• Forum: Mule Deer

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[coast range]

This is the only one on my new phone. This bull is 4.5 years old. This is an Oregon Rosie

 

[grfox92]

9.5 Years old. Tooth aged by Wyoming Game and Fish.

Sent from my SM-S931U using Tapatalk

 

[Rogue Bay]

I apologize because I already posted these in the 2024 Elk Meat Pole thread but this is the only elk I have had aged and have a photo of on this phone. Please forgive the poor photos. I snapped the first pic quickly because a big snow storm was blowing in and we had a lot of work to do. The pack out photo is the only one that gives any reference. He was aged at 6.5 years old, which was a little younger than I estimated looking at tooth wear/staining. Eastern Oregon public land bull.

Somewhere I have a photo of a cow I shot that was 14.5 years old. That same year my wife shot a giant cow that was significantly bigger than mine but aged at 3.5 years old. It’s always fascinating to me.