Pronghorn age?

[canvsbk]

Just back from Wyoming with a question about pronghorn age. 2 of us were out hunting when the C O stopped by camp and talked to the other 2 guys. He showed them how to age a pronghorn and felt that 1 of the bucks they had was 8 1/2 years old. When we got back, with a buck in the truck we all looked to see if we could age it.
Here's the deal - it only had 4 teeth left, all on the bottom. It was a very large bodied buck and he was apperantly a fighter as the prong on his left side was broke off and he was pretty scared up in the face. Huge body but only 4 teeth left on the bottom with zero evidence he ever had any others.
Any guess as to how old he might have been?

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Up to age 4 pronghorn can be aged by looking at their teeth. After that it's just an opinion until one of the teeth is cross sectioned, at least that is my understanding. If you google it there is a quick way to tell up to age 4 based on their baby teeth falling out.

 

[npaden]

Old.

You can guess how old they are based on tooth wear, but after about 5 1/2 years old it gets very subjective.

Here's the jawbone from my buck this year. He was estimated at 7 1/2.

If I were aging like I would a whitetail I would have probably guessed him at 6 1/2.

If you really want to know you can send in the lower incisors to a lab and have it aged with cementum annuli for about $20.

 

[Dinkshooter]

You can take the guesswork out. Save them for a while and get the cheaper rate. It's fun you can guess then get the results. Usually I am far to disorganized to get in done.

http://www.matsonslab.com/html/Services/HunterServices/Hunters.htm

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Wow, I did not know that antelope can survive that long in the wild..... I figured at about 5 1/2 they were pretty much dead... at least a buck.... here in Idaho I doubt any get much past 3 1/2, but that's my opinion.... I have seen some 2 huge bucks in Idaho that would surpass the state record but they were so wild as soon as they saw a 4 wheeler or vehicle, didn't matter how far away they ran until they were way out of sight...
Matt