Originally posted by DeerGeek
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Aging Whitetails by Their Teeth
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Originally posted by PondPopper View PostNope.. I know a lease in turmoil over a jawbone that I pulled as we speak. The deer was easily 5 or 6 from just what I could see in the head when I cape him but his teeth show 3..
A blocky headed 71/4x21x23 cape on a free range hill country buck.. Lol
They asked me and I told them to throw the jaw in the campfire and call him 6..
Tell those guys to calm down, it’s NOT a 3 year old. STOP using the dang teeth!!!
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Y'all are so much fun!
Here, I'll share that I also have experienced extreme cases when tooth wear didn't match my expectation. I killed this buck in Nebraska in 2016. I thought he was 5-ish when I shot him based solely on field judgment. His teeth said 2.5 yrs.
And yet, tooth wear still has meaningful applications in management. Cool, hu?
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So, here's some harvest data from this season, 2022. There are 5 hunters who hunt this ranch 1 week per year. So like many other hunters across the U.S., they don't have the luxury of building history. Yet they have gotten really good at field aging bucks, which is evidenced by the tooth wear of the bucks they kill. Do they know the actual years of each of these bucks? No. Does it matter? No. Did 4 of the 5 dead bucks have at least 1 dished molar? Yes. Is there mountains of evidence that reveal bucks are at or near peak antler development when they have 1 to 2 dished molars? Yes. Is tooth wear providing insight and encouragement to these hunter's abilities in the field? Yes.
P.S. - No one got kicked off the lease, or even "in trouble" for killing the 2 yr old.
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[/B][/B]QUOTE=Top Of Texas;16606979]So, here's some harvest data from this season, 2022. There are 5 hunters who hunt this ranch 1 week per year. So like many other hunters across the U.S., they don't have the luxury of building history. Yet they have gotten really good at field aging bucks, which is evidenced by the tooth wear of the bucks they kill. Do they know the actual years of each of these bucks? No. Does it matter? No. Did 4 of the 5 dead bucks have at least 1 dished molar? Yes. Is there mountains of evidence that reveal bucks are at or near peak antler development when they have 1 to 2 dished molars? Yes. Is tooth wear providing insight and encouragement to these hunter's abilities in the field? Yes.
P.S. - No one got kicked off the lease, or even "in trouble" for killing the 2 yr old.[/QUOTE]
Good
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