Looking for someone to age a deer in Henderson County
- Thread starter JoeVaquero
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BSK
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Take a look at WHO touts cementum annuli. Those associated with the business. Look at who gives accurate analysis of the method. The best field research biologists going. Now if you're looking at deer from the North or Midwest, I would feel very confident with cementum annuli. But in the South and Southeast, lower accuracy than toothwear. Plus, the errors in cementum annuli run both ways - too young and too old. Toothwear rarely ages deer too old.When i got intereted in tracking the age of bucks i did a ton of research. I found pros and cons of every method. I watched countless videos. While, many did not like the hassle, wxpense and wait associated with the cementum annuli method, every reaource i found credited with being the most accurate method.
Here is a resource we use in our wildlife management classes
How to Age a Deer and Why It's Important
Aging whitetail deer is an extremely important skill for land managers. Learn why and how to age deer by hoof, teeth, skull, and the cementum annuli method.deerlab.com
Personally, I want to see ALL the information. I want to see multiple pictures of that buck, from various angles, as close to the rut as possible (for field judging). I want to see toothwear. I want to see cementum annuli. But even with all that data, is the age accurate? Maybe. No method is perfectly accurate. But I'll go with either the average of those methods, or the closest two out of three.
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I've sent a couple deer off for CI testing. Probably won't do it again because it just isn't worth the cost.
What led me to sending them off was because 2 years in a row, TWRA aged a mature buck as 2.5 based on tooth wear.
One deer was 198lb 8 point with 5.5" bases and 130.5" overall - I have trail cam pics of him at 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5 (the year I killed him). Distinctive rack, 100% certain its the same buck.
The other deer was a 7 point with 17" inside spread, and weighed 204 lbs. Wife shot it. No cam pics, but a big deer.
TWRA aged both at 2.5
CI testing came back at 4.5yo for both.
I no longer let TWRA tooth age my deer - if they aren't going to take the full picture into account (weight, antlers, body structure, tooth aging) the data is useless with the exception of simple long term trends.
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Dennis
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From a management perspective, I thought the only purpose of age data was simple long term trends. What other uses are there for it?
If you're talking about satisfying a hunter's curiosity for example, I'm not sure the accuracy is good enough with any of the methods to matter. Our field judgments are probably as accurate as the rest of the methods.
I figure the best we can do is tell a yearling from a 2.5 with a fairly high degree of accuracy, a 2.5 from a 3.5 with a bit less accuracy, and a deer older than 3.5 with less accuracy yet. Telling a 4.5 from a 5.5 , etc, is a fool's errand without some history with the animal to rely on.
BSK
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Ahhh, now that's a different story. First buck I ever killed off my place back in '87 was aged as a yearling. Classic 90-class 8-point. You can't misjudge yearling and 2 1/2 because of tooth replacement of the premolars, but they did.
bowhunterfanatic
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We quit pulling jawbones for this reason. Granted, they weren't being aged by TWRA, but they were being looked at by knowledgeable individuals. All of them were were being called either 2.5 or 3.5. We knew that to be incorrect on a couple of them so we quit fooling with it.
JoeVaquero
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Cockleburs
JoeVaquero
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@DeerCamp came and looked at the deer today. He's a great guy and gave us a lot of information. He gave his estimate based on tooth wear, and also his guess based on the mass of the antlers and skull size, shape etc. Posting some jaw pics to see what others in the group think.
backyardtndeer
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From what I can see in the pics, they look pretty warn to me. At least 4.5.
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JoeVaquero
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I'm about 4 miles or so south of the Carroll county line on 104n.
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@BSK care to weigh in on the pics above?
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It was great to meet you both! Look forward to staying in touch.
Classic 3.5+ to me.
If other info leans toward the buck being older, I wouldn't doubt it one bit.
If other info leans toward the buck being older, I wouldn't doubt it one bit.
BSK
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The toothwear of the 1st molar is classic 3 1/2, but something about those premolars makes me lean a little older.
fairchaser
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At least 3.5. Those back molars still have sharp points or I would lean 4.5.
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After seeing this buck in person, I have absolutely no hesitations about saying this deer is 5.5+
The head is massive and very suggestive of very mature, the bases of the antlers are pushing 7", he described his walk into the field as staggered, slow and very stiff.
And absolute stud of a buck.
This buck really puts the "+" in 3.5+.
The head is massive and very suggestive of very mature, the bases of the antlers are pushing 7", he described his walk into the field as staggered, slow and very stiff.
And absolute stud of a buck.
This buck really puts the "+" in 3.5+.
TN Larry
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I would call it 4.5 by jawbone.
Great buck…congrats!!!
