I shot this guy in OK on Sunday. Can you help me age him?
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I hate posting photos so hopefully this works the first time.

My guess is a 5 year old

Old enough. Cool buck!

44mAG said:

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My guess is a 5 year old

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Yep he's got a Mulie head and potbelly started.

His teeth say 5.5 but it's hard to say for sure. It looks like his 4th tooth still has a ridge/crest but it's possible it has a wear pad. At 6.5 that wear on 4 is pretty unmistakable.

Thanks, y'all. Figured he was at least mature. He's got a couple of cool dagger points off the back of his main beam.

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agging by teeth requires a comparison of dentine wear (the width of the exposed inside of tooth) to enamel (the white outside layer). you evaluate wear on tongue side of the tooth. side pics are nice to bring some secondary context, but you need a good perpendicular top view pic to properly assess per the tooth wear method.

also, consider this a trophy and celebrate the kill and be careful not to undermine the thrill of a hunt by stressing over age.

Here's a cheat sheet:

Deer aging
* Fawn - less than 6 teeth
* 1.5 yo - 6 tooth, 3 rd tooth has 3 parts
* At least 2.5 - 6 teeth, 3 rd tooth has 2 parts


* Enamel - outside of tooth
* Dentine - inside of tooth
* Look at high outer ridges (closest to tongue)
* 2.5 yo - 4th tooth dentine < 2x enamel
* 3.5 yo - 4th tooth dentine > 2x enamel and 5th tooth dentine < 2x enamel
* 4.5 yo - 4th and 5th tooth dentine > 2x enamel and 6th tooth dentine < 2x enamel
* 5.5 yo - 4th, 5th and 6th tooth dentine > 2x enamel
* 6.5 yo plus - 4th tooth is dished or flatten


Also, even though this is the preferred method, studies have shown you can still be plus or minus a year. Unfortunately there hasn't been any better other field methods developed .

Chetos said:

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agging by teeth requires a comparison of dentine wear (the width of the exposed inside of tooth) to enamel (the white outside layer). you evaluate wear on tongue side of the tooth. sides pics are nice to bring some secondary context, but you need a good perpendicular top view pic to properly assess per the tooth wear method.

also, consider this a trophy and celebrate the kill and be careful not to undermine the thrill of a hunt by stressing over age.

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I'm not stressing over it. I'm trying to determine if he's a deer I had on camera 2 years ago. If he is 3.5 to 4.5 I don't think it's the same guy, but I think it's him.

I thought he might be older based on his mass, stickers, and color of his answers. It's just that he is not as big as the mature bucks I normally see on my place which made me initially think he might be younger.

Also, just trying to get more organized in which deer to take and which deer to leave for next year.

I'll get better pics once I get done with the Euro mount.

Took a jaw to a biologist years back that we knew was 4.5 years old. Very sandy area and they have mineral and cotton seed etc on the ground. We figured the wear from sand being ground while eating. The biologist ended up saying 6.5 to 7.5 but there were some peculiar signs. When we fessed up and looked at his finding on paper he mentioned the dentine in detail and how in tact areas were to others. He noted likely sand and high volume of feed corn to be the issue of wear and that in many cases it is difficult to age.

AggiePetro07 said:

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Chetos said:

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agging by teeth requires a comparison of dentine wear (the width of the exposed inside of tooth) to enamel (the white outside layer). you evaluate wear on tongue side of the tooth. sides pics are nice to bring some secondary context, but you need a good perpendicular top view pic to properly assess per the tooth wear method.

also, consider this a trophy and celebrate the kill and be careful not to undermine the thrill of a hunt by stressing over age.

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I'm not stressing over it. I'm trying to determine if he's a deer I had on camera 2 years ago. If he is 3.5 to 4.5 I don't think it's the same guy, but I think it's him.

I thought he might be older based on his mass, stickers, and color of his answers. It's just that he is not as big as the mature bucks I normally see on my place which made me initially think he might be younger.

Also, just trying to get more organized in which deer to take and which deer to leave for next year.

I'll get better pics once I get done with the Euro mount.

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Age does not always mean B&C. It just means they get a much better chance at being the best version of themselves can be.

As a dearly departed friend used to say adjusted his personal phrase to hunting "ugly does need loving too."

AgLA06 said:

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AggiePetro07 said:

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Chetos said:

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agging by teeth requires a comparison of dentine wear (the width of the exposed inside of tooth) to enamel (the white outside layer). you evaluate wear on tongue side of the tooth. sides pics are nice to bring some secondary context, but you need a good perpendicular top view pic to properly assess per the tooth wear method.

also, consider this a trophy and celebrate the kill and be careful not to undermine the thrill of a hunt by stressing over age.

---

I'm not stressing over it. I'm trying to determine if he's a deer I had on camera 2 years ago. If he is 3.5 to 4.5 I don't think it's the same guy, but I think it's him.

I thought he might be older based on his mass, stickers, and color of his answers. It's just that he is not as big as the mature bucks I normally see on my place which made me initially think he might be younger.

Also, just trying to get more organized in which deer to take and which deer to leave for next year.

I'll get better pics once I get done with the Euro mount.

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Age does not always mean B&C. It just means they get a much better chance at being the best version of themselves can be.

As a dearly departed friend used to say adjusted his personal phrase to hunting "ugly does need loving too."

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100%. That's what I reminded myself. Most deer just wont grow into huge bucks.

I had fallen into that line of thinking that old = big.