Deer aging question

[Teddy9871]

Alright fellas so 3 years after burying a 4 pt I shot during our gun season, I finally decided to digger up and clean her. So I went to stick it with the rest of our deer heads and ended up admiring this 8pt we found around this time of year 10 years ago when I noticed something. These deer have the same wear and tear on their teeth they look identical. Do you guys think they're the same age? Dnr told me the 4pt was a 1.5

 

[GCTerpfan]

Probably not. Aging a deer by it's teeth is a lot more detailed process then just taking a cursory look at approximate wear. Plus, even when doing it correctly it's not an exact science.

 

[shwacker]

That 8pt is prob 2.5, not many outside a pen get that big at 1.5. You need a bottom jaw, 1.5 and 2.5 are very similar on dentine wear, but the 1.5 will have a tri-cusp tooth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Teddy9871]

Aging deer is one thing I try to stay away from but the similarities made me curious. Thanks guys for your input

 

[dalton916]

Bottom ja is what you need. Even then it’s inexact at best. There’s a reason teeth get sent off for aging when a precise age is desired.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

You don't need the bottom jaw to determine tooth REPLACEMENT. Both of those deer have their adult teeth.
To determine tooth wear, we need pics of the bite surface, not a side pic.
For some reason, the upper teeth seem to wear slightly faster than the bottom teeth. Every skull I have looks like the upper jaw is a year older than the bottom jaw.

 

[Lu Rome]

Bottom ja is what you need. Even then it’s inexact at best. There’s a reason teeth get sent off for aging when a precise age is desired.

This isn't entirely true. You can absolutely tell if a deer is a fawn, 1.5 or 2.5 and older. It does become an educated guess above 2.5, but "Inexact at best" isn't true. It's "exact" in those first 2 age classes.

 

[Allegheny Tom]

This isn't entirely true. You can absolutely tell if a deer is a fawn, 1.5 or 2.5 and older. It does become an educated guess above 2.5, but "Inexact at best" isn't true. It's "exact" in those first 2 age classes.

Agree.
I guess I didn't word that very well. I was referring to using tooth replacement for aging deer up to 2.5.
After that age it becomes less exact. Tooth wear becomes more about placing deer into age classes...middle age or old age.
I picked up a dead head yesterday that would fall into the old age class.
I will post a pic shortly comparing the old timer to a lab aged 4.5 year old.
I've shot a lot of bucks here, and found many dead heads over the years, but I've never seen tooth wear like this on a local buck. They just don't survive that long around here.