Here's one for you jaw aging gurus

[KingsX]

A lot of times one side will age one year different than the other side too. I’d keep that in mind when keeping the jaws for aging. The buck i killed this year we have history with and one side ages 5 and the other side 6 and I’ve seen it vary a lot from side to side before too.
It’s a tool to get age somewhat accurate for 3-5 yr olds but after that it’s a crapshoot sometimes.
I’ve had deer with history that are older than 4-1/2 but age on the teeth 4-1/2 so at times it confuses me.

[KingsX]

It’s my understanding (and it makes sense) that a deer’s diet can effect tooth wear or at least the appearance of tooth wear. All 3 permanent molars (tooth 4, 5 and 6) appear to be “dished” out here on my deer. That said, there’s a bunch of **** rock on our ranch so I wonder if he liked eating limestone? [emoji23] He even appears to have some damage between his last premolar and the first permanent molar (tooth 3 and 4). It seems pinched in.

I have seen deer with a healthy habit of chewing on small rocks near mineral/salt lick cattle sights so anything is possible for sure.
Also if there are minerals missing from a deer’s diet they will literally eat certain dirt at times so I’m sure that could play a factor on tooth wear of a deer considering health or lack of nutrients during early years or bad range conditions.

[RascalArms]

Here's one for you jaw aging gurus

So here is the jaw owning deer referenced in my pics. I took him late after Xmas...he was pulled down hard post rut only weighing 137 lbs on the hoof. Compared to AC’s wife Wendy’s buck above that weighed in at a whopping 187 lbs.

[KactusKiller]

A lot of times one side will age one year different than the other side too. I’d keep that in mind when keeping the jaws for aging. The buck i killed this year we have history with and one side ages 5 and the other side 6 and I’ve seen it vary a lot from side to side before too.
It’s a tool to get age somewhat accurate for 3-5 yr olds but after that it’s a crapshoot sometimes.
I’ve had deer with history that are older than 4-1/2 but age on the teeth 4-1/2 so at times it confuses me.

This is very true

[AntlerCollector]

The big difference in body weight is she killed hers pre rut vs post rut on yours.

[Etxnoodler]

Been stated on here a number of times that even the experts are usually at least +/- a year or two aging by tooth wear. Absent an ear tag and known age, I don't think you can ever do any better other than on an 18-month old deer with the 3-cusped 3rd premolar.

Yup. After about 3.5 it's really just an opinion no matter how good the person is.

[Nova]

Anyone that tells you the age of a mature deer with certainty based on a jaw bone alone is full of it. It is a guess at best.

[gtsticker]

6.5


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[SaltwaterSlick]

Anyone that tells you the age of a mature deer with certainty based on a jaw bone alone is full of it. It is a guess at best.

Not true across the board at all... You CAN be very accurate for a specific piece of property and a specific herd given time and good data collection. What I mean is a "GOOD" management program is developed for a herd on a piece of property over time. We managed a 10,000 acre piece of property that was part of a larger piece of property that was under similar management practices. This program was maintained for over 30 years. We kept very detailed data on very deer harvested including age, weight body characteristics, harvest location, etc. We used jaw bone aging consistently with this herd for the whole period... In that time, we could very well determine the real age of most of all the deer we harvested. We had history, location, pics, video, you name it... these deer were under almost continuous monitoring of some type. This was a low fence ranch, but was over 50,000 acres so we indeed had a consistent natural genetics herd and we knew it's age and characteristics very well and very accurately. The jawbone was the basis we used and whether the age of the deer was 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 or something else, the relative difference in the jaw bone wear was VERY consistent unless there was some abnormality in the deer.

I agree that aging a random deer based on a general standard is a guess, although a good educated guess.

[DRT]

They are all three and a half on our place.