dbHunterNY

another take away you should get from this is if you want to know the age down to the exact year the jawbone, weight, antler size, and other pieces to the puzzle can all be lump in together to get an answer. there's some on here that claim looking at a jawbone is BS when people on the fence by a difference of one year. that's like them handing you a single piece to a puzzle, asking what it's a picture of right down to the description on the box, and then saying there see you can't figure it out.

second buck doesn't appear 3.5 yrs old either, despite I still can't tell dentine width, even on the computer bigger brighter screen.

pulled the pictures up on my bright computer screen. looking at the first top photo it's hard to tell wear on the last cusp. dentine is borderline. second photo of your top view there's barely any wear or dentine showing on the last cusp which would say 2.5 yrs old. I agree weight wise is not typically heavy enough for 3.5 yrs old.

hard see things with the washed out teeth, especially for the second buck. a couple other things I can't see well with for the first that would push me one way or the other. pre-boiling as long as the teeth are cleaned out of food matter is easier tell where something stops and ends. idk how big the first buck was, but it looks like it could be 3.5 yrs old. 2nd buck is pretty hard to tell from that picture, tops of teeth are just a white blob. cusp all the way in the back (far right) doesn't look to have much of any dentine showing. also it doesn't appear to be worn to or beyond concavity. could be 2.5 but nothing I'd put money on.

rough day.... had a correction anything laying in a pan or container needs to be on a rack and not sitting in juice drained from the meat. high and dry is the idea.

can't seem to edit...... meant to say "NO top view...."

one top view but you're looking at 2.5-3.5 yrs old. definitely not 1.5 yrs old but look at my first post.

that's a great resource that'd get you really close.

always look at the lingual side of the jaw (tongue side with higher crests or mountain peaks) and not the buccal side. now a deer with have 3 premolars and 3 molars per side fully erupted if not a fawn, which you've got. you're talking tooth replacement. up to around 1.5 years old a deer can have 3 cusps (sectional bump outs) to the third tooth back (3rd pre-molar). at around 19 months, still considered a yearling but late in the season, the 3 premolars that were baby teeth would be lost and replaced with adult premolars. now the 3rd tooth back (last premolar) will have only 2 cusps (as yours does). premolars will look whiter with no staining at all though to the point where it looks those first three teeth are perfect and fake. also the lingual crest (mountain peaks) will still appear very much pointed and "sharp", unless jaggedly broken off. you've only taken a side photo but at this point you'd look at the dentine width compared to the enamel width and less importantly the sharpness of the 4th tooth back. enamel is the outer, white, hard portion of the crests (tongue side of mountain peaks). dentine is darker line right next to it. you'd move back tooth by tooth. each time the dentine is wider then the enamel you add a year to 2.5 yrs old. wear is a progression and not finite within the same age class. you're looking at small teeth too. if you're on the fence, often times it helps to look at teeth after and possibly before it for what would be a logical progression of wear. another fence shaker is the last cusp of the last molar. you'd look at the surface profile and exposure of dentine, both indicating wear.

for aging you want 34-40 degrees, just above freezing. have redundant thermometers simple basic ones as a backup. a commercial butcher is always around and can make up a small loss. it'll burn your ass if something goes wrong and you don't catch it because a nice digital thermometer went bad. anything laying hasn't to be laying on a rack to keep it out of capillary drainage. hang deer head down to not trap heat and drain away from the better cuts. pull tenderloins before hanging and don't dry age with "back straps" on too long. they'll dry up on the rib side and you'll have waste. I always leave the hide on to prevent waste but don't leave the hide on if putting it in your cooler. it could in introduce dirt, bugs, and whatever else into whatever else is in there. longer you dry age to a point of 3-4 weeks the better it'll be. you'll lose a lot of water weight and outsides will get dried and crusted over. you fillet all this off later. depends on how much loss you're okay with. make sure you've got some kind of odor and gas filter like a hanging humifilter. you don't want to trap odor and gas in there or your meat will smell and taste like it. tuckersdaddy is right about processing meat when its borderline freezing. especially grinding meat. only exception being your hands aching like hell.

I haven't even looked at my garden in over a month. just left the 'gate' open for the critters.

nice good luck

just under 800 acres between half a dozen properties in WMU 4C. rest I hunt is public in three other management units on occasion. may pick up another 80 acres of private ground south of me in another unit if the owners need help with doe harvest this year. a good dozen acres trumps a large farm worth of bad ones. something isn't as easily correlated between those posting. even considering the WMU.

I've figured out deer get all bothered as soon as the black holes show up in the blind. I leave mine open on one side.

encounters are always a good sign and give good info even if you don't punch a tag at the time.

congrats on the 2 doe. I had a black phone case for my iPhone. lost it in an alfalfa field for an hour or so before. now it's got a blaze orange case.

I did that for years without incident and then slowly quit doing it.

we've had button bucks get bigger and equal the weight and size of decent doe. they also had hard little spikes like his did. also going in line that shawnhu and elmo said it had a bigger than expected body for the area it's possible it was a yearling buck with broken off antlers. One year we had a 2.5 yr old buck get its a** handed to it by a bigger one. had a good sized rack for 2.5 with 6 on top but pencil thin mass. it got both sides snapped off close at the bases. one side was barely legal (3") and the other side less.

if for whatever reason you don't have optimal fawning cover and the surrounding area isn't over populated too bad with doe then you might just have doe calling somewhere else within most of their primary range. mature doe can be territorial and bucks have been in bachelor groups together all summer. it's also possible that one doe is a mature one claiming your area. still should have some sightings but that would create the bias you're seeing to an extent. not sure how big your property is to have more or less of an effect. come hunting time they always seem to move around more and some area with lesser activity at some point sees something.

I've got one of those too. lol I actually spend most of my time there. half the time looking for something.

you didn't see the chair? haha

classic typical whitetail... nice buck. Congrats!

perfect! congrats to him and atta boy to you for mentoring him.

I've basically done everything that's been said. I did pull the tenderloins. rinsed them in the sink under cold water really good. we'll see how they are when I pull them from the fridge. only part I don't like is it's hanging in my cold garage and today it probably wasn't quite under 40 degrees. it's close and will be fine as I'm taking care of it right after work. also I've heard but never tried is taking a clean cloth soaked in a saltwater solution (1 gal water, 1/2 cup salt) and wiping down the inside of the cavity. not sure what this would do. never hear of many people doing it either.

sooner is better than later but never too late. if the property owner really thinks that say deer need to be thinned, don't go in hunting for a buck and not shoot anything. try to fill a doe tag and show him or her. things like that will buy you good grace and make a good first impression. know what the needs are, get contact info, and what owners expectations are.