How Old Was that Animal?

[Big Fin]

I've always been fascinated by the stories we can learn about the animals we take. I think that is what intrigues me most about antlers, hides, scars, etc.

For the last few years I've been taking the teeth of animals to Matson's Lab in Manhattan, Montana. They can age animals for you and it gives you an idea of what that animal has lived through.

The two Wyoming bucks I shot in 2019 and 2020 both survived the brutal winter of 2016-17. I have confirmed that via aging of the animal by dropping off the teeth at Matson's. Now I am even more fascinated that I took one on its way to the winter range and one near the summer range, both from the same herd that makes huge migrations through some very difficult conditions. Amazing that they make this trek for the risk-reward benefits of better summer forage up high and better wintering conditions down in the edges of the Red Desert.

Here is a video that goes into a lot more details.

If you are interested in learning more about the animals you take, go to this link on their website - https://matsonslab.com/age-your-game/

 

[bennirio]

The more I learn about what these animals do to make a living the more I respect them and want to do everything to honor them when I'm able to harvest an animal. I'm going to look for a place closer to home to age my next harvest. Or just mail it to Montana. Thank Finn for the great content.

 

[Bambistew]

Animals are pretty tough, IMO when it comes to winters, especially mature animals.

Highways and predators kill way more animals than winters. I would be willing to bet that highways kill almost as many animals as hunters.

 

[Oak]

@Dinkshooter sends more teeth to Matson's than anyone I know. He could provide a whole thread of "guess the age."

He sent the teeth from this buck of mine. How old?

Let's see some of the ones you guys and gals have had aged.

 

[TheTone]

Aging them is cool, I have a couple critters I wish I had done.

It’s also really easy to age the dink 2 1/2 year old raghorns I seem to have a knack for

 

[kansasdad]

@Big Fin I really enjoyed your Mattson's video that was released today. As a dentist, the study that they do on tooth roots is right up my alley. And it piqued my interest into wondering if this method of aging could be used on humans.

So I fired up Al Gore's internet and read some fairly in-depth studies showing that there are many ways to determine age approximations in humans, with cementum studies being fairly reliable. Learned something new today.

Thanks for the video, and thanks for contributing to my continuing education credits.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Cripes Gatekeeper!

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

This MT bear was aged at 17+, the lab said it was inconclusive past that....

 

[fowladdict]

@Oak 5.5?

 

[fowladdict]

Can Matson determine an age from an ivory? If so, will they send the ivory back?

 

[get-n-birdy]

Interesting stuff!

Gatekeeper, stupid question, were those bucks shot in the same general area? Genetics and forage growth are fascinating. Watch whitetails in a field behind our house and am amazed at what deer herds do when they are WAY over carrying capacity. Some deer are huge, others just never seem to reach any size. Both body and antler wise. Neighbor and I wonder if some deer can search out better food sources or have better genetics? Seems odd how there's both ends of the spectrum in the same area?

Cool thread!

 

[Big Sky Guy]

Can Matson determine an age from an ivory? If so, will they send the ivory back?

Yes we can! You would get the ivory crown back and a small portion of the root, the root tip is cut off of the ivory just like the tooth in the video.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

Great having you visit @Big Fin! Really impressive how you and your team were able to put this video together. After viewing the video I hope the audience (hunters and non-hunters alike) can further appreciate the role hunting is playing in our wildlife management. More and more agencies have mandatory tooth submissions now, and there are still those hunters that resist this for various stubborn reasons. A video like this can go a long way in bridging the gap between hunters and wildlife managers. "Hey look, that's where my bobcat tooth goes after I submit it to FWP. Randy Newberg also submits teeth so this must be ok."

(By the way I am AJ Stephens with Matson's. If anyone has any questions relating to the video or cementum aging shoot away!)

 

[Corn king 60]

I used matson labs to age a whitetail 3 years ago and they were very professional. It cracks me up how many hunters (including my son)are experts at aging deer until you actually have experts do it 4.5 years when I killed it

 

[RobertD]

I skinned a gray fox with teeth wear not unlike Greenhorn's ancient Yellowstone coyote. Should've sent a tooth in.

@Oak I'm gonna say 4.5 just to lob a guess out there

 

[MTTW]

I have aged quite a few mule deer and have gotten a little obsessed about it. Most people are curious how old a large animal is, but I find that I regret not ageing smaller animals because some of my biggest surprises were how old mediocre bucks were in some cases.
I would not be surprised if Oak's buck was 4 1/2 and I would also not be surprised if it was 8 1/2.

 

[Oak]

My buck was 7. He stopped stating the fractional part of his age after he turned 5.

 

[MTLabrador]

My method for aging mule deer is simple. I shoot them in Montana, which means they’re all under 4.

 

[zpooch]

Tooth age box was sent from WG&F. This old girl was aged at 15.5. Not the best eating cow I've had

 

[antlerradar]

I have aged quite a few mule deer and have gotten a little obsessed about it. Most people are curious how old a large animal is, but I find that I regret not ageing smaller animals because some of my biggest surprises were how old mediocre bucks were in some cases.
I would not be surprised if Oak's buck was 4 1/2 and I would also not be surprised if it was 8 1/2.

There are lots of buck that just never get real big even if they have great feed and live to old age. I have found multiple years of sheds from bucks that never grew past a certain size. Some of those bucks never made it to the 140's. On the other hand bucks like Gatekeepers were likely very good bucks at age four and real nice at age three.