Aging Whitetails by Their Teeth

[The4Cs]

I went to the Comanche 4 times and worked with Dr DeYoung. We spent a week, each trip, catching deer. We “hog tie” them then fly them back to a centralized location and Dr. DeYoung would look at their teeth and score the bucks. Dr DeYoung told me you can only “age” a deer as mature or not mature by their teeth. Once they get to be older than 3 it’s anyone’s guess as to the exact age of the deer. I’ve seen that to be true in my experience as well. We owned/operated a high fence ranch in Menard county. Some of the bucks we knew to be 6-7 had teeth like 3yr olds. Some of the 4yr olds had teeth like you would expect from an 8yr old deer.


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[Chance Love]

I went to the Comanche 4 times and worked with Dr DeYoung. We spent a week, each trip, catching deer. We “hog tie” them then fly them back to a centralized location and Dr. DeYoung would look at their teeth and score the bucks. Dr DeYoung told me you can only “age” a deer as mature or not mature by their teeth. Once they get to be older than 3 it’s anyone’s guess as to the exact age of the deer. I’ve seen that to be true in my experience as well. We owned/operated a high fence ranch in Menard county. Some of the bucks we knew to be 6-7 had teeth like 3yr olds. Some of the 4yr olds had teeth like you would expect from an 8yr old deer.


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DeYoung is spot on.

[muzzlebrake]

After reading thru 4 pages I have determined the best way for aging deer is to hang them in a cooler for a minimum of 18 days. 21 days is even better.

[Mule Skinner]

I’ve never read that tooth aging is an exact science. Plus, there are always going to be anomalies and exceptions. Such as the OP.

[Greenheadless]

After reading thru 4 pages I have determined the best way for aging deer is to hang them in a cooler for a minimum of 18 days. 21 days is even better.

Best summation of this entire posting.

[PondPopper]

I went to the Comanche 4 times and worked with Dr DeYoung. We spent a week, each trip, catching deer. We “hog tie” them then fly them back to a centralized location and Dr. DeYoung would look at their teeth and score the bucks. Dr DeYoung told me you can only “age” a deer as mature or not mature by their teeth. Once they get to be older than 3 it’s anyone’s guess as to the exact age of the deer. I’ve seen that to be true in my experience as well. We owned/operated a high fence ranch in Menard county. Some of the bucks we knew to be 6-7 had teeth like 3yr olds. Some of the 4yr olds had teeth like you would expect from an 8yr old deer.


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And there it is!!!!^^^^
It's such a shame that more hunters do not realize this..
As a taxidermist Everytime a hunter asks me "hey can you pull that jawbone so our "lease boss" can look at it" I just shake my head and sigh because this practice caused far more problems on hunting leases over the years than probably anything else.

[Aggiehunter08]

I went to the Comanche 4 times and worked with Dr DeYoung. We spent a week, each trip, catching deer. We “hog tie” them then fly them back to a centralized location and Dr. DeYoung would look at their teeth and score the bucks. Dr DeYoung told me you can only “age” a deer as mature or not mature by their teeth. Once they get to be older than 3 it’s anyone’s guess as to the exact age of the deer. I’ve seen that to be true in my experience as well. We owned/operated a high fence ranch in Menard county. Some of the bucks we knew to be 6-7 had teeth like 3yr olds. Some of the 4yr olds had teeth like you would expect from an 8yr old deer.


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Thanks for sharing that.