Jawbone aging deer.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Well I see so many threads every year that talk about how old a buck (or doe) is based on "how grey the face is" "how big the antlers are" "he's old and on the decline" and on and on.

 

There are many articles and charts out there that talk about body characteristics of the different age class bucks. But lets talk about once the deer of your choice in laying on the ground. The easiest thing to do and very accurate to determine if your deer is at least 2.5 years old is look at the teeth. above 3.5 years old it gets subjective and has some variables that influence the tooth "wear'. The most accurate way is to have the tooth aged similar to counting the rings on a tree,(Cementum Annuli Technique).

 

This is presented pretty well and pretty easy to understand. It will give you some more reliable info on the age.

 

http://www.huntingmuckalee.com/agingdeer.html

 

I am a member of QDMA and am not plugging the next ones for the sake of plugging. I have the following and they are great resources if you want to make a better "educated guess"

 

If you are interested in having a goo "hold in your hands" resource I would suggest the following

 

https://www.qdma.com/shop/3-poster-combo-buck-antlerless-and-jawbone-removal

 

If you are really into it, look at this. These really show you in 3D how the teeth will look at 2.5 and younger and likely look older than 2.5

 

https://www.qdma.com/shop/deer-aging-tool

 

 

[dbHunterNY]

I've decided I might post pictures on here for a learning to age a jaw bone.  maybe periodically.  all would be deer locally here in 4C.  probably have around 150-200 worth for this year so there's plenty.  I'd only post ones where those of us aging them agreed 110% on an exact age and they weren't too encased in dried up tissue.  I've found that it's really hard to just look at dentine width and there's a few or so more stuff to look for that'd tip you to one age or another if you're on the fence.

[The_Field_Ager]

What’s the Oldest Deer on Record?

 

https://www.qdma.com/articles/whats-the-oldest-deer-on-record

[BizCT]

I've always heard good things from people who sent into deerage.com

[dbHunterNY]

What’s the Oldest Deer on Record?

 

https://www.qdma.com/articles/whats-the-oldest-deer-on-record

 

two hunters took doe from local QDM co-ops around here that were aged from a lab to be 15 and 20 years old.

 

in terms of jaw bone aging with labs it'd be useful to know all molars were worn down so infundibulum and lingual crests on each were none existent, so each tooth was a flat cup.  that in theory gets you to 8.5+ but it's important to know that both doe had incisors worn down flush to the gum line.

Edited November 9, 2015 by dbHunterNY

[Marion]

15 & 20 year old deer. How do you even kill something that old and one would imagine wise

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[Culvercreek hunt club]

I've decided I might post pictures on here for a learning to age a jaw bone. maybe periodically. all would be deer locally here in 4C. probably have around 150-200 worth for this year so there's plenty. I'd only post ones where those of us aging them agreed 110% on an exact age and they weren't too encased in dried up tissue. I've found that it's really hard to just look at dentine width and there's a few or so more stuff to look for that'd tip you to one age or another if you're on the fence.

I was really trying to start this as fairly simple. Figured if we could get initial agreement that it was 2.5 or older. Lol

[88GW]

http://www.hudsonval...ic,16807.0.html

Check this guy out, dhenry a local biolgist from the hudsonvalleysportsman.com

[dbHunterNY]

I was really trying to start this as fairly simple. Figured if we could get initial agreement that it was 2.5 or older. Lol

 

that's pretty fool proof and easy.  I like your thinking for a solid start.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Very cool stuff, great thread. I had to dig out some lower jaws and age them!

[Lawdwaz]

Very cool stuff, great thread. I had to dig out some lower jaws and age them!

 

Yaaa, so what did you come up with for ages??

 

[The_Real_TCIII]

2.5, they're nearly identical

Edited November 10, 2015 by The_Real_TCIII

[dbHunterNY]

I know this thread kind of died but I figured I'd bring this up again.  i'm going to be dealing with jawbones from the co-op i'll keep an eye out for those early born and late taken yearlings that might have a two cusped 1st molar, meaning the three cusped molar was just replaced.