Tooth Age Please?

[Chance Love]

TTT for Love

Why are you bumping this for me? Are you seriously saying that deer was a 2 yr old?

[Greenheadless]

I see a 3 year old by tooth wear, but as said it is horribly inaccurate.

[PondPopper]

Why are you bumping this for me? Are you seriously saying that deer was a 2 yr old?

I think he is just wanting some "LOVE"...

[texan16]

What I see is that the dentine is wider than the enamel on #4 ( 3 yr old) and some would argue the same for #5 (4 yr old).

I see the same thing. According to "tooth wear aging rules" that deer is 4.5

[brokeno]

3.

[Top Of Texas]

Why are you bumping this for me? Are you seriously saying that deer was a 2 yr old?

I just wanted to make sure you saw my previous reply regarding clarification on the methodology.

The criteria is based on the crests on the tongue side (lingual), not the cheek side.

[Chance Love]

I just wanted to make sure you saw my previous reply regarding clarification on the methodology.

The criteria is based on the crests on the tongue side (lingual), not the cheek side.

Is that the only criteria you look at?

[Top Of Texas]

Is that the only criteria you look at?

Progressively from the front to the rear, yes, with an occasional consideration of the back cusp of #6. The method has no criteria defined for the cheek side ridges, except when #4 has the center ridge, between cheek and tongue side cusps, completely worn away and thus entire molar is "dished." And again, progressively following dished from front to rear.

The nice thing about the method is that it's almost entirely objective. Proof that even well known experts don't fully understand the criteria is evidenced in the famous tooth aging study. Not that nailing the years was inaccurate, rather, the wide range of inaccuracies. That is, the exact year may be missed, but everyone should give the same answer. That was not true in that study, which reveals there have been experts out training others incorrectly for decades.

So when hunters post teeth on the Green Screen and answers are given from 2 yr to 6 yr, it reveals that some individuals don't have a full understanding of the criteria.

As for the buck in question, the teeth say 2 years, and there's a judgement call that could be made for 3 years. We could break out the calipers and see, but that'd be stupid because from a management standpoint, we know the deer is not of an age to have peaked in antler growth.

One of the problems created by the "I killed a 7 year old but his teeth showed 3" is that hunters are trying to learn to identify old bucks on the hoof, with or without history. So when a guy evaluates a buck, shoots it, and then can't get a clear answer on tooth wear, then it just adds to the confusion in the field. Old deer can be identified in the field. Tooth wear assists hunters in learning how to do that. And history is awesome!

[Greenheadless]

[BrokenJ]

3, he needs another year lol

[Top Of Texas]

Bahahaha! Keep checking back, Greenhead

[sotx]

Tooth wear aging is useless as teets on a boar hog.

[Chance Love]

Tooth wear aging is useless as teets on a boar hog.

Yessir. Been saying it for YEARS. I really feel sorry for the guys that get into trouble or kicked off a place because the teeth don't show what they "should" have.

[Deerguy]

You guys are funny. It's not that tooth wear is 100% accurate, because nobody thinks it is, even trained biologists. There is no way to 100% accurately age a deer. But, it is a useful management tool that, when used correctly over large data sets, can reveal meaningful information. When you compare morphological data curves from known-age deer versus deer aged by tooth wear, the curves are close to identical. No, its not always accurate. But the sky isn't always blue and the grass isn't always green. For every exception deer (I killed a deer that was 52 years old but the teeth only said he was a fawn) that you can show me, I can show you 50 deer that do follow the established criterion.

By the way, there is enough wear on the 1st molar for me to call the deer 3.5.

[sotx]

Yessir. Been saying it for YEARS. I really feel sorry for the guys that get into trouble or kicked off a place because the teeth don't show what they "should" have.

Nothing beats history or good film footage to prove your case.