Help with age

[dope hunter]

Here is the jaw of a buck my dad killed in Montague County. I have an idea of age based on trail cam photos, but could someone who knows how to age by the jawbone help me out?






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[texasdeerhunter]

Teeth aging isn't exact. But, I would say 4.5 just based on that jawbone. I could be talked into 3.5 though, but I will go with 4.5

[forced-2-work]

This is a tough one but I would agree 3.5-4.5 years old. Just hard to say for sure with this guy.

[8pointer]

4.5

[K. Lane]

Dead and a half is my guess

[RMW]

4.5-5.5

[TxHuntFish]

4.5-5.5

Yep

[Grizzly1]

5.5-6.5...pics are tough to judge sometimes but those teeth look pretty worn down to me!

[Top Of Texas]

I would call that textbook 4.5 yrs.

Deer have 6 back teeth per side. 3 premolars (first 3 teeth from the front) and 3 molars (last 3 teeth). The first 2 molars (teeth 4 and 5) have 2 cusps, and the last molar (tooth 6) has 3 cusps (2 big ones and 1 little).

Teeth wear from the front to the back as the deer ages.

Look straight down at teeth at the little valley's of the highest point of the cusps and you'll see a dark line. That's called dentine. The white stuff is called enamel. As the deer's teeth wear down enamel, more of the dentine becomes visible. You'll notice on tooth 4 (from the front) that the dark line (dentine) is as wide or wider than the enamel that surrounds it. This makes him at least 3.5 yrs. So then we move to the next tooth (tooth 5) and we see the dentine on both cusps is as wide or wider than the enamel that surrounds it. Now we know he's at least 4.5 yrs. So we continue to tooth 6 and we see the dentine line is not as wide as the enamel that surrounds it meaning it does not appear to make 5.5 yrs. For a second opinion, we look back at tooth 4 at height of crest and width of dentine, which also indicates 4.5 yrs.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/game_management/deer/

Follow lonk. Click on Age Determination of Whitetail Deer

[dope hunter]

Thanks for all the imput guys! Here are a few trail camera pics of this buck. I had aged him at 4.5.





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[dope hunter]

I would call that textbook 4.5 yrs.

Deer have 6 back teeth per side. 3 premolars (first 3 teeth from the front) and 3 molars (last 3 teeth). The first 2 molars (teeth 4 and 5) have 2 cusps, and the last molar (tooth 6) has 3 cusps (2 big ones and 1 little).

Teeth wear from the front to the back as the deer ages.

Look straight down at teeth at the little valley's of the highest point of the cusps and you'll see a dark line. That's called dentine. The white stuff is called enamel. As the deer's teeth wear down enamel, more of the dentine becomes visible. You'll notice on tooth 4 (from the front) that the dark line (dentine) is as wide or wider than the enamel that surrounds it. This makes him at least 3.5 yrs. So then we move to the next tooth (tooth 5) and we see the dentine on both cusps is as wide or wider than the enamel that surrounds it. Now we know he's at least 4.5 yrs. So we continue to tooth 6 and we see the dentine line is not as wide as the enamel that surrounds it meaning it does not appear to make 5.5 yrs. For a second opinion, we look back at tooth 4 at height of crest and width of dentine, which also indicates 4.5 yrs.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/game_management/deer/

Follow lonk. Click on Age Determination of Whitetail Deer

Thanks for the reply! That was a lot of really helpful information.

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[texashunter56]

I would call him a 4.5 yr old by toothwear.

[bismic]

I would call that textbook 4.5 yrs.

Deer have 6 back teeth per side. 3 premolars (first 3 teeth from the front) and 3 molars (last 3 teeth). The first 2 molars (teeth 4 and 5) have 2 cusps, and the last molar (tooth 6) has 3 cusps (2 big ones and 1 little).

Teeth wear from the front to the back as the deer ages.

Look straight down at teeth at the little valley's of the highest point of the cusps and you'll see a dark line. That's called dentine. The white stuff is called enamel. As the deer's teeth wear down enamel, more of the dentine becomes visible. You'll notice on tooth 4 (from the front) that the dark line (dentine) is as wide or wider than the enamel that surrounds it. This makes him at least 3.5 yrs. So then we move to the next tooth (tooth 5) and we see the dentine on both cusps is as wide or wider than the enamel that surrounds it. Now we know he's at least 4.5 yrs. So we continue to tooth 6 and we see the dentine line is not as wide as the enamel that surrounds it meaning it does not appear to make 5.5 yrs. For a second opinion, we look back at tooth 4 at height of crest and width of dentine, which also indicates 4.5 yrs.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/game_management/deer/

Follow lonk. Click on Age Determination of Whitetail Deer

Great information, thanks.

[venado]

I would have gone with a 5 1/2 guess based mainly on the wear of that last cusp on the 6th tooth. It appears more worn than the 4 1/2 yo known age bucks I've seen. I still wouldn't make too strong an argument against 4 1/2 yo.

[RMW]

Buck is definitely older than 4.5 with the photos you posted. Looks 6.5 on the hoof.