Aging mule deer bucks!

[rogerthat]

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The jaw pictures are by far the best for me to guess age. If I had the jaws and compared them to my jaw board I would bet I would be within a year. Both shooters and mature deer. Just going off the pictures and past experience since I have all my jaws at work your sons deer is older 7.5 years old and your deer is 6.5 years old.

 

[Valley1320]

Hopefully @ImBill dont mind if i play here to. So take a guess guys ive asked elsewhere but heres some more pics.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Hopefully @ImBill dont mind if i play here to. So take a guess guys ive asked elsewhere but heres some more pics. View attachment 261571 View attachment 261572 View attachment 261573 View attachment 261574 View attachment 261575 View attachment 261576 View attachment 261578 View attachment 261579 View attachment 261580

I'd say not old based on tooth wear. Hard to say if just looking at head/antlers.

 

[ImBillT]

Hopefully @ImBill dont mind if i play here to. So take a guess guys ive asked elsewhere but heres some more pics. View attachment 261571 View attachment 261572 View attachment 261573 View attachment 261574 View attachment 261575 View attachment 261576 View attachment 261578 View attachment 261579 View attachment 261580

I had kinda wanted to keep the jaw bones out of the equation until people had guessed by the body. The point being to see if anyone was good at guessing the age of a deer without having to kill it first. I guess I don’t have to post all the bucks before I start adding jaw bones to the bucks I’ve already posted.

His body is telling me 5.5+. His antlers with the extra knobs and things are telling me the same thing even though his bases are a tad small. He jaw bones are telling me 4.5.

I think any deer between 4.5 and 8.5 is downright hard to determine by looking at them. I think some come closer to looking mature at 4.5 than others, and I think some hang on to their body condition and antler quality longer than others. I think even a few into the 9.5-10.5 realm can look like their in quite good condition.

I should probably revise down my guess on greenhorn’s bucks. But they are mature.

 

[Valley1320]

I had kinda wanted to keep the jaw bones out of the equation until people had guessed by the body. The point being to see if anyone was good at guessing the age of a deer without having to kill it first. I guess I don’t have to post all the bucks before I start adding jaw bones to the bucks I’ve already posted.

His body is telling me 5.5+. His antlers with the extra knobs and things are telling me the same thing even though his bases are a tad small. He jaw bones are telling me 4.5.

I think any deer between 4.5 and 8.5 is downright hard to determine by looking at them. I think some come closer to looking mature at 4.5 than others, and I think some hang on to their body condition and antler quality longer than others. I think even a few into the 9.5-10.5 realm can look like their in quite good condition.

I should probably revise down my guess on greenhorn’s bucks. But they are mature.

I agree with all you said.

 

[ImBillT]

Deer 7

I think the game cam pic is the same deer, but I’m not 100% certain.

 

[Valley1320]

Deer 7

I think the game cam pic is the same deer, but I’m not 100% certain.

6.5 somewhere in there... his face doesn't look real extremely old.... but his body and the extra trash on his antlers and how deep his forks are make me think he's a lil older deer.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I don't think antler fork depth is any indication of age.

 

[rogerthat]

Hopefully @ImBill dont mind if i play here to. So take a guess guys ive asked elsewhere but heres some more pics. View attachment 261571 View attachment 261572 View attachment 261573 View attachment 261574 View attachment 261575 View attachment 261576 View attachment 261578 View attachment 261579 View attachment 261580

5.5 years old from the tooth wear. I’m fairly confident I’m within 1 year on that buck. Nice buck

 

[MTTW]

To come within one year aging a buck guess 4 if you are sure he isn't 8 and guess 6 if you think he might be 8.

That will get you within 1 year on the majority of mature looking bucks. Still a guess but it will usually get you within a year on public land bucks because 8 or older is freakishly rare and if you can't tell 1 or 2 just give up. Not really scientific though, but if you are just guessing it is like picking the center box on tic tac toe.

 

[Greenhorn]

I couldnt' find the FWP paper on the two I put pictures on but I think it was 5.5 and 8.5. My son's being the older one

 

[ImBillT]

I couldnt' find the FWP paper on the two I put pictures on but I think it was 5.5 and 8.5. My son's being the older one

I knew I overshot after thinking about it, but those two bucks are just in a whole different class from anything I’ve killed in terms of both bodies and antlers.

Those are some fantastic bucks.

 

[ImBillT]

Deer 8. Not mine, but I was there. I also processed the deer and got 137lbs 4oz of boneless meat for an estimated live weight of 412lbs. When I walked up to this deer I thought I could have jumped on and taken it for a ride. Prior to processing this deer I’d never had one big enough to break 107lbs of boneless meat. It was aged by a biologist, and the jaw is in my garage. I will send a tooth to Matson when I send the rest of the teeth I would like them to age.

 

[Valley1320]

Deer 8. Not mine, but I was there. I also processed the deer and got 137lbs 4oz of boneless meat for an estimated live weight of 412lbs. When I walked up to this deer I thought I could have jumped on and taken it for a ride. Prior to processing this deer I’d never had one big enough to break 107lbs of boneless meat. It was aged by a biologist, and the jaw is in my garage. I will send a tooth to Matson when I send the rest of the teeth I would like them to age.

I'm gonna go with 7 1/2 or 8 1/2 somewhere in there. To be a rank like that he's gotta be on the older side.

 

[ImBillT]

Deer 9 and 10

Jaws and/or ages according to biologists coming for all the deer next.

 

[Valley1320]

Deer 9 and 10

Jaws and/or ages according to biologists coming for all the deer next.

Deer 9 3.5 looks young in face and doesn't have the huge full neck of a older buck, and pencil horned.

Deer 10 I'm gonna go 3.5 as well same characteristics as deer 9.

 

[TheTone]

Deer 9 3.5 looks young in face and doesn't have the huge full neck of a older buck, and pencil horned.

Deer 10 I'm gonna go 3.5 as well same characteristics as deer 9.

Agreed both young

 

[ImBillT]

I probably should have posted 9 and 10 first instead of last as I think they are easy to age and should be informative on the rest.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

You may have seen this research already, but just goes to show how difficult it can be to field age deer.

Study: Deer’s lifelong fate is affected by mother’s health at birth - WyoFile

Multi-generational research shows health of a mule deer mother at time of birth may influence lifelong size of offspring.

wyofile.com

 

[sclancy27]

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Those teeth are pretty stained but don't show a ton of flattening and wear. Molars are all pretty sharp. My guess is 5.5 yr for the wide one, 4.5 for the other. That top one has a real thick body, many steaks!