Cementum aged critters - Let’s see them..

[Frequently Banned Troll]

2004. No age listed but notes said , “BR NA at least 13”

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

2012 - 13 years old

 

[Forkyfinder]

Amazing the seeming lack of correlation between age and antler size. Lots of big young ones.

 

[npaden]

I have a few to add, just need to get my pictures together. I have a couple that I think the lab got wrong, but they are Texas deer and they labeled them a "B" for reliability and gave ranges but I think they still missed them by a bit.

I think they got this one correct, it is a Colorado bull that I have 3 years of trail pictures.

Killed in 2023 and aged as 8 years old with an "A" reliability rating.

Backing up to 2021 he would have been 6 years old in this picture:

And 7 years old in this picture from 2022:


Here he is in 2023 aged at 8 by the lab:

Jawbone:

Jawbone matched up perfectly with the age from the lab.

It is interesting to me that between ages 6 and 8 I'm not sure that he grew any at all, maybe even was a little down the year he was 8. Could have been that conditions were perfect for antler growth in 2021 and that let him grow to full potential that year and then conditions were not as good in 2022 or 2023. Not sure if that was accurate or not, just speculation on my part for why he didn't continue to add antler each year.

 

[Hammsolo]

There’s an old coaches saying, “You can’t win the Kentucky Derby on a jackass.”

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

Lion is 3B 3-4 surprised as it was a 141# tom with 14-1/4” skull.

Wolf is 5 & I would have thought younger. Female.

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, then 12 in that order.

Youngest 3 have biggest skulls at 19-6/16, 20-11/16, and 19-15/16 all official measurements.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, then 12 in that order.
View attachment 392238
View attachment 392237
View attachment 392239
View attachment 392240
View attachment 392241
View attachment 392244
View attachment 392246

Damn, Kurt. You’re like the Pokémon master of bears. Almost got one of every age! Just missing those young 2, 3, 4 and 5 year olds . Truly impressive. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Corn king 60]

I had just the one year prior sheds.

 

[El Jason]

4.5

 

[npaden]

So here’s the guidelines. One animal per post, as many pics as you want of the animal, field pics, jaw, skull, tooth, etc. BUT the age has to be a lab aged result with cementum analysis from a place such as Matson’s Laboratory- NOT a guess from a check station tech, biologist, or any other alleged expert.

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, then 12 in that order.

Youngest 3 have biggest skulls at 19-6/16, 20-11/16, and 19-15/16 all official measurements.

I guess you don't need to pad your post count, but you did fail to follow your own guidelines.

 

[npaden]

I think this one is a year older than the lab aged him at.

With southern deer my understanding is that they can be harder to age with cementum annuli because they could have multiple rings in a year if there was a hard winter and then a bad summer drought or there might not be any rings if there is a mild winter. Not 100% sure but I know that it isn’t as accurate on southern deer.

This one was aged at 4 with a “B” reliability score and a range of 4-5.

If he was 4 when I shot him in 2024 then he would have been 2.5 in 2022 when these pictures were taken. If you go with the range and give him 5 when I shot him he would have been 3.5 in 2022.



This is also from 2022 with another buck and I really think the other buck is 2.5 based on watching the deer on the property and he is at least 3.5 here and based on his body size and characteristics I would guess him at 4.5 here.



Pictures from 2023. If he was 5 when I killed him in 2024 he would be 4.5 in these pictures. I think he was 1 year older. Already has a sway to his back and very heavy in the neck and front shoulders. This was late summer early fall long before the rut.



Pictures from 2024 when I killed him. Lab said 4 or a range of 4-5. I think he was 6.5.



Here’s his jawbone.


I really need to go back and see if I can find trail camera pictures of him in 2021. I remembered him from 2021 and thought he was already a good buck then.

Going back over it, I’m not seeing the slam dunk here that I remembered but I do think there is reason to believe that he was 6.5 instead of 5 in 2024 when I killed him. That matches up with the tooth wear and body size and composition. Before I got the tooth aged I actually thought he was 7.5 when I killed him.

 

[shrapnel]

Lead cow, somewhere near 30 years old. The only sign of ivory in her head…

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

Lead cow, somewhere near 30 years old. The only sign of ivory in her head…




View attachment 392399View attachment 392400

Was that a shrapnentum analysis?