Can you age a Roe by its Antlers???

Monkey Spanker

Well-Known Member
Right - time for a little educational photographic quiz/poll !:D
(Inspired by the recent what constitutes a cull buck thread).
The Roe below was shot on 2nd of May just gone in Mid Suffolk. The area is not known for great heads plus we've just had a very hard winter. He was in hard Antler.
Two questions:

1. How old do you think he is?

2. Would you shoot it as a 'cull buck'?

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I do have weight data, as well as pictures of all teeth which I will add once a few brave souls have committed an answer!:lol:
Oh, and I do know exactly how old it was too!;)
MS:)
 
I will have a go he is 2-3 years old and is a good young beast. Would i have culled him yes at 3 years old he should be taller and more uniform. ps i have been known to be wrong lots of times.:eek:
 
I would think by the size of his head and skull that he is 'mature'. A cull buck in my thinking would be one that would be surplus to the managed populations needs. An old going back buck would still pass on good genes and i personaly think that far too many good bucks are shot under this excuse. I always use the farmer/prize bull/good cows method and it works.
 
I'm going to say the long, thin pedicles and lack of slant on the coronets means he's younger than his antlers indicate; 1. am going to go for 2 years.

I'd like to say that I would have aged him on his body and gait etc (easier for me/R.Prior to preach than carry out in practice I know...) - and thus following on from Prior's teachings; if I had a young buck still to shoot in the plan then 2. yes I would shoot him.

Nick
 
Well, my first glance at the antlers made me think 2-3 years, although the antlers looked really short and thin, so it could be an old buck going back. Now looking at the skull compared to your other 'youngish' buck, it looks much younger! That surely can't be a yearling?! My only other thought is that he was suffering from an illness or injury to give him such a small skull and short thin antlers...

Not enough experience to call it....
 
Very tricky....the skull is smaller suggesting a very young buck, teeth would be what I would look for....these are not as developed again suggesting a very young beast ( or they could be worn down which points to an old bugger!). I am going for a 1-2 year old, and yes I would cull him.
 
Answer!!

A brand new 2 crown third pre-molar eh?
:eek:So then, here we have an 11 month old 6 pointer!:eek:
From a distance it did look like a 2-3 year old and an ideal cull buck. It was still in winter coat and looked a 'stocky' little chap, difficult to distinguish it as mature or young by muscular definition in this case. No other animal nearby to compare it to in size so it just looked like a normal size buck, maybe just further away? The only defining thing to identify it as a yearling kid was that it had a short looking face. It weighed 32 lb head and legs on which is about 10-14 lbs lighter than the average mature buck in this area.
So was it a good cull animal?:confused:
In its own right, no, as it was a cracking young buck who could have matured into something special over the next few years. However, this was one of a pair of kids, both of equal quality and one of them had to go sadly.:(
In fact, it was one of the fine young buck twins of the poorly Roe Doe which featured in my 'Hydronephrosis' post here:
http://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?9367-Hydronephrosis
She obviously was a great mother despite her ailments!
It was interesting to see age estimates from very young up to old, but nobody actually suspecting a yearling!
So can we age Roe by antlers alone? Apparently NOT!:D
Thanks for humouring me!
Regards,
MS:)
 
I am not that surprised it's a yearling. I would not jugde buck's age by looking at its antlers, but there is usually one indication you might consider before taking a shot. A young buck usually have longer front tines. An old buck going back usually have shorter front tines than the back tines (talikng about 6-pointers).

ATB

Greg
 
Amazing. I'd seen (shot...) a few 6 point yearlings when I lived in Wiltshire but nothing that size.

Just reinforces Richard Prior's view that you can't judge the age of roe by their antlers.

Thanks for the entertainment MS.
 
Interesting thread.

Does any body have a good set of piccies of Roe Teeth so that the ingnorant's such as myself can clearly see how to age them accurately.

Reaspnably confident in telling an older deer from a younger one, and yearling from a young one, but would be useful to be able age accurately if that is possible.

Many thanks
 
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