Please Age Jawbone

[gil1]

I shot this deer on Dec. 1. He had a much bigger body than I'm used to seeing on this property, and his rack was wide and thick. All that made me think he might be a mature deer. But I have zero idea how to age a jawbone. I didn't een really know what angles to take pictures of. Can you weigh in please?

 

[pass-thru]

a young 3.5 by the jawbone

 

[8 POINTS OR BETTER]

3.5

 

[BSK]

3 1/2.

 

[gil1]

Thanks, folks. I really need to learn how to do this.

 

[RUGER]

Great deer man !

 

[TheLBLman]

This is another example where seeing BOTH lower jawbones could provide a different age guess.

If we look only at the first jawbone pic (2nd pic from top, with excellent view of RIGHT lower jawbone), it would likely have been officially aged as "2 1/2 or older". But looking at the deer's LEFT side, appears more as "3 1/2 or older".

Also, had this deer been killed a month earlier (opening weekend of Nov. muzzleloader) there would have a little less tooth wear, increasing the chance of it being called "2 1/2 or older" had only the right side been viewed.

 

[gil1]

This is another example where seeing BOTH lower jawbones could provide a different age guess.

If we look only at the first jawbone pic (2nd pic from top, with excellent view of RIGHT lower jawbone), it would likely have been officially aged as "2 1/2 or older". But looking at the deer's LEFT side, appears more as "3 1/2 or older".

Also, had this deer been killed a month earlier (opening weekend of Nov. muzzleloader) there would have a little less tooth wear, increasing the chance of it being called "2 1/2 or older" had only the right side been viewed.

Interesting!