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aging deer

Joined Aug 2010
187 Posts | 0+
bland , mo usa
This may be a stupid ? But here it is . I know you age deer buy the wear on there teeth , and i am fairly good at judging them . See alot of them come through the taxidermy shop . I did a european skull mount for local deer farmer that had an deer get killed fighting . He said it was only 2 1/2 , but the bottom teeth were wore down all most flat . So my stupid ? is do pen raised deer teeth wear faster/different than a wild deer , or is ths guy full of sh-- . I'm thinking i know the answer .:rolleyes:
 
It's not as much about the tooth wear as it is the enamel/dentine ratio. I'm not the guy to explain the details, but that's what you need to look at more than the wear itself.
 
I may have to post a pic of the teeth . Im not just talking about wear , these teeth are almost completely flat .
 
There is a few ways to age deer.Tooth eruption & wear is the easiest for field work.Deer have four types of permanent teeth,incisors,canines premolars & molars.Ignore the incisors for this method as they can be very different from area to area.Milk teeth are shed by two years of age & replaced by permanent teeth.Molars & premolars wear at a consistent rate & this is used to judge the relative age of the animal.I would suggest you collect a set of lower jaws from known age animals from each species for comparison when making the judgement.
 
The cementum annuli method is the most reliable way to age deer.The way cementum annuli is deposited is predictable, relative to the animals age .The cementum is deposited around the root of the tooth below the gum,its formed during spring & summer, darker annuli is formed over winter(like the growth rings in trees).To do the ageing, incisor teeth are removed from the jaw,sectioned,stained & examined under a microscope.
 
sharkey said:
The cementum annuli method is the most reliable way to age deer.The way cementum annuli is deposited is predictable, relative to the animals age .The cementum is deposited around the root of the tooth below the gum,its formed during spring & summer, darker annuli is formed over winter(like the growth rings in trees).To do the ageing, incisor teeth are removed from the jaw,sectioned,stained & examined under a microscope.
wow way to much info, well for me anway. BUT how abount how to score a bucks rack???? any class to take ??? every year when a bucks killed everyone stands around and says hes 140-120-150 , man id love to say NO hes x-y-z and be right :eek:
 
Careful what you ask for.No doubt someone would run scoring workshops,we do down here.I think whitetails would be one of the more challenging deer to score ,there is a lot going on up there. Asian deer are the most popular down here sambar, rusa,chital & hog deer.They only have three points a side.We also have red & fallow.Sambar are the premier game animal in this country,though we may not be as crazy about them as you guys are about your whitetails.The Douglas system is the most popular system here. Cheers sharkey
 
i know of one supposed be 6 died plus to old to breed some have better luck with old does,some retire early, DC
 
We have a one Whitetail deer she is over 20 years old.



We lost one of our pet fallow deer last winter...She was 19...

I should have got pictures of her teeth....darn

Both of The doe gave us healthy buck fawns.
 
These German hinds are 16 years old & still producing.If they only squirt out one calf every second year now I will still be happy with them.They are from genetics imported in the eighties & their line can be traced for almost three centuries.I can only equal or maintain never improve their genetics.(who would want to mess with this anyway?)These old girls really calm any new our flighty animals.Because of their age I do spoil them a bit more (& they know it)I can't help but smile when they chase me on the quad bike,It must look a site. Cheers Sharkey 6861:IMG_3441.
 

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