I've seen 3.5's that seemed to stay 3.5's for years lol. Sometimes a buck just doesn't ever develop the tell tale signs we use to age them. I relate it to my high school reunions. Some guys really age while others don't. Most get bellies and second chins. Some don't. We all look various ways and various ages but actually all the same age from the same place. I suspect bucks are not much different.
Absolutely true. Field-judging age is not a science; it's an art-form. But I still believe I'm getting most right. I still use toothwear as well, but mainly just to check a solid minimum age against what I'm field-judging. And on occasion, I find where I was wrong in my field-judging. But those instances are fairly rare. I also realize that if I'm getting some wrong (and I certainly am), at least I'm getting them wrong in the same way, hence my data trends should be accurate. I recently went back and reviewed my trail-camera data from the mid 2000s (2003-2007). Honestly, I didn't find a buck I would change my age classification for, so I feel pretty good about my data trends.
