Jaw bone age help

[AntlerCollector]

You need a pic looking down at the top of the teeth also to get a better estimate of his age.

[bear]

I showed my father in law and he said it was a young deer…. I will take better pics tomorrow and try and get the top jaw- got it sitting in water with heater to get all the meat off …

[texasdeerhunter]

6.5+

[ColinR]

Need to see top of teeth !

So y'all are getting that from side wear? No top view required?

You need a pic looking down at the top of the teeth also to get a better estimate of his age.

This.

[kyle1974]

deer looks 5 to me

[Hills of Texas]

The idea that you can tell exactly how old a deer is by it teeth is flawed in my opinion. There’s just too many variables to be consistent. Region, diet and soil type just to start. Teeth wear with use. That’s an older deer just from the wear it shows on the teeth but to say it’s 5.5, 6.5 who knows. I’ve seen plenty of jaw bones from all over the country and just don’t see it being real consistent. It’s great for young or mature, just not exact year.

[Hobbs]

I see a 5-6 yr old in the trail cam pic and the tooth wear is fairly consistent for a 5-6 year old.

[SaltwaterSlick]

The idea that you can tell exactly how old a deer is by it teeth is flawed in my opinion. There’s just too many variables to be consistent. Region, diet and soil type just to start. Teeth wear with use. That’s an older deer just from the wear it shows on the teeth but to say it’s 5.5, 6.5 who knows. I’ve seen plenty of jaw bones from all over the country and just don’t see it being real consistent. It’s great for young or mature, just not exact year.

Your point is well taken... but... IF you use this method consistently on a given herd with deer that you have history with (tagging, pics, video or other positive identifying methods of specific deer), this method can be very accurate. The guides differ based on specific herd and location of deer from different areas of the country... even different areas of the state of Texas... East Texas vs. west or south Texas herds will wear differently because of the factors you mentioned, but they will be consistent in a given area. You just need to develop a known age set of jawbones to use as a guideline and you can get very accurate with teeth aging.
In most cases, managers are looking for young, middle aged, and mature, and post-mature... Those classes are easily distinguished using the teeth in a given herd. This is NOT a good way to compare different herds from different areas of the country/state.