ageing shot deer accurately?

Little Terry

Well-Known Member
I'm sure I have heard from somewhere that deer can be aged from the growth rings on their teeth, like a tree.
1. Is this true?
2. Do the teeth need to be filed down or cut?
3. Which teeth?
4. Does anyone have any pics of this?

With sheep, the lower front teeth grow in pairs according to my mate the sheep farmer - two the first year, four the second and sixth in the third year. Does this work for deer also? I just shot a re buck with 8 lower front teeth, so maybe 4+ years old???

Cheers,
Mark.
 
Yes you can do it by cutting the teeth. I would pick a premolar, you then cut it through from top to bottom. The teeth are then polished on the cut surface and the rings can be counted under a microscope.

I have to say though, when I was shown this, the two experienced stalkers then argued over the age, so it is still slightly subjective.

J
 
Unless you tag a deer soon after its born to identify age etc all attempts to age deer [when dead] have varying degree's of reliability from poor to down right crap.

They are all guesstimates.

But; why is it necessary to be precise when ageing deer? Is not to the nearest year ok?
 
Rangefinder said:
But; why is it necessary to be precise when ageing deer? Is not to the nearest year ok?

Yes, I would have thought so. Certainly fine for me - to the nearest year is what I was looking for.

Stand Buck has sent me some useful info on this now. Thanks guys.
 
The guy that took me for my level 2 in Hampshire who has shot a lot of Roe told me to put young, middle aged and adult on my cull sheets as it is difficult to age them. I don,t have a problem with that.
Paul
 
Here is section of Roe Buck tooth shot this year. Estimated age 4-5 y Interestingly he had 2 canines which had open roots and very wide sockets. The head was kindly dropped off to me when the owner was on his way up to Scotland. As you can see the cementum layers are poorly defined indicating the animal lived in the soft south :) , I am trying to obtain stains to improve definition which are proving difficult
ToothSection5.jpg

morena
 
Can i ask a simple question here
what is wrong with trying to identify the age of the deer while it is still standing??
surely ageing it after it has hit the deck is like shutting the stable door after the horse is bolted???????
and slightly pointless unless you are just knockin stuff over for the game dealer
ATB
stone
 
stone said:
Can i ask a simple question here
what is wrong with trying to identify the age of the deer while it is still standing??
surely ageing it after it has hit the deck is like shutting the stable door after the horse is bolted???????
and slightly pointless unless you are just knockin stuff over for the game dealer
ATB
stone

Hi Stone,

How's it going?

I hear what you are saying and that is what I have been trying to do. I feel like I'm getting much better at it now, but was looking for some way of 'backing up' my choices if you see what I mean. In order to know that I'm making the right guess through the scope I would like to confirm or disconfirm the age more accurately later.

A bit like guessing the range of the target and then checking it with the rangefinder afterwards to try and get better.

Hope that makes sense.

Best regards,
Mark.
 
Sectioning and polishing the tooth can be reasonably accurate but there is always scope for error. The only times you can be sure of age is when the deer is young and has not grown its full set of adult teeth or, as Rangefinder says, it has been tagged at birth.

For management & cull planning, if you stick to classifying deer as young, middle aged & old you can't go far wrong. Consider a combination of tooth wear, body size/shape/weight, movement & attitude when alive etc. Even then expect to get it wrong occasionally as, like people, deer can age in different ways!

Mole
 
Ok people, here's a little test for you then. Age this Buck:








Granted, not all the information is there - i.e. it would have been better to see him standing up before the shot. But lets see what you think. Be as accurate as possible (i.e. to the nearest year). No right or wrong answers, just want to see how close I was with my guess.

He weighed in at 18kg with gralloch, legs and head removed and was shot on 1st August from arable and wooded farmland.

All the jaw shots are of the same peice of right hand lower jaw and are all taken from the same side.

I suppose the ultimate question is.......would you have left him for another year or not!?!

Mark
 
I will be first to the slaughter, but I would suggest 4 yo. Nice tall antlers but the tines are nothing special, so worth removing. This is also still difficult to do as we dont know the type of vegetation and soil type for slow or quick wear. 8) I think I have covered myself ;)

I think that it is only possible to age on the hoof as immature mature and old (roe), it cannot be accurately done.
 
If it was on my ground, I would say the buck is in its 4th year (3rd head). The third pre-molar still is pretty much intact. It's not its 2nd head as edges are not that sharp. Its not its 4th head as 3rd premolar would be much more used.
It could have had bigger head next year.

Or you neighbour would have shoot it :lol:

Greg
 
AGEING THE BUCK

The teeth are hardly showing any wear at all and have not even settled into the jaw properly.

The weight and antlers suggest it is unlikely to be a yearling (but I have seen yearlings that big)

I would say this animal was definitely not more than 2 years old i.e. born May 2007!
 
Rangefinder said:
That wasn't the question Stone

ATB
sorry RF
was not trying to demeen the post in any way, i promise

just felt i kew what what Mark was after
seems like i got lucky
Mark
i would go on a 4 year old buck, as it was 1st of aug it would already of past on it gene pool as it was in mid rut in our area
leaving it another couple of years might of been acceptable if your neighbour thought the same
as i know he would of shot it regardless
due to the local vegatation you will hav less tooth ware than others
nice buck though with a half decent weight
but not enough greying on the mask or tines not white enough for me to make it much older than that
but still pretty tall
just not heavy, typical of our heads
one of my ground 2 years ago, probaly 4 miles as the crow flies
P1010723.jpg

ATB
 
stone said:
Mark
i would go on a 4 year old buck, as it was 1st of aug it would already of past on it gene pool as it was in mid rut in our area
leaving it another couple of years might of been acceptable if your neighbour thought the same
as i know he would of shot it regardless
due to the local vegatation you will hav less tooth ware than others
nice buck though with a half decent weight
but not enough greying on the mask or tines not white enough for me to make it much older than that
but still pretty tall
just not heavy, typical of our heads
one of my ground 2 years ago, probaly 4 miles as the crow flies
P1010723.jpg

ATB

Thanks Stone,
Pretty much my thoughts too.
Mark.
 
JUSTIFICATION OF OPINION

I would be very interested to see what aspects of its tooth wear you use to justify an opinion that it is 4 years old!
 
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