Discuss our first Deer Aging Contest!
Whitetail Deer
Pat I clicked it but I don't think it worked.
I am also a big fan of aging animals. Last year I did a Coues, Black Bear, Antelope, Moose and two whitetails. C
I tried entering but it seems to be rejected - my email address came got highlighted as if it failed. Guess I'll check back later to see if it was accepted or DQ'd.
I made my guesses but I can't find them. There was a list when I opened it of everyones guesses but now all I get is the age guessing page??? and no list???
I hope you guys are better at aging the girls you ask out or a lot of you are going to get into trouble!
how would a buck make it much past 4.5 years old where these deer live? isn't there a lot of hunting pressure? Pat, how do you get 2 chances, I looked on fb but just the video was there?
I gave up trying to age deer on the hoof years ago. If it meets my minimum I will get an idea when I check the teeth!
The guys crack me up on the shows with "that deer is 4 years and 7 months old, you can tell by his nose, belly, sway back etc." Unless they have been watching a particular buck since he was born and know him by name, it is all a guess.
This game should be allot of fun. I think guessing a deers age by watching a little bit of footage is very challenging. Personallly, I don't know allot about the subject...I can only guess from my personal experience of watching certain deer from season to season...living in Allg.Co. PA, you definetly get a chance to look at a ton of deer in one season. Looking forward to the results.
Well looking at the picture on that first buck I wanted to say 5.5 but after watching the video I couldnt make myself guess any older than 3.5 his face and neck were just too skinny looking and his back is more like a hunch back rather than a saggy back!
Im pretty sure the second deer is 2.5 but I have been wrong one time before:)
I think some of you may be interested in a recent study evaluating the accuracy of live aging deer on the hoof. Looks like a lot of us have professional deer biologists who share with us the challenge & difficulty of doing it well. Check out the link.
Yep neeed to put up where the deer is from. A 125 inch is a hog in PA here he wouldn't even get shot.
Don't claim to be an expert. For all that are pooh - poohing aging, it's all in good fun and some of are doing that. That's what matters.
Well, I haven't commented yet. I did play the game, and probably guessed the deer a lot older than they are/were. I guessed buck #1 as a 6 1/2 year old, and buck #2 as a 4 1/2 year old
My reasoning. . . I've been surprised the last couple of years when having deer aged. I hunt a farm, that although in Missouri, is probably not too different from Connecticut. There are no crops. Nothing but mast, woody browse, some clover in fields, rocky ridges, and lots of brush. Poor soils and lots of rocks on this farm
I've had three bucks aged in teh last 3 years. All of them were from the above farm, and all were older than they appeared. The first looked like a 3 1/2 year old. That's what I thought he was. He didn't have the body characteristics that all the experts use when determining age factors. He was 5 1/2, confirmed by cementum annuli
I had two bucks from this year aged by deerage.com. The first I'm sure was a 4 1/2 year old deer. He did have some of those characteristics the experts discussed. Big chest. Big neck. Etc. He turned out to be a 6 1/2 year old
The second buck from 2010 was small. He wasn't very large racked. Wasn't large bodied. I thought on the hoof, that the buck was 4 years old, becuase he was puffed up as he tended a doe and chased a smaller buck away. After he hit the ground, I was sure he was a 2 1/2 year old. Got the results back today, he was a 4 1/2 year old. Suprisingly
I think both of these deer are older than what they look.
Bake
It wouldn't surprise me if both deer were the same age.
Clearly you can't judge the age of deer by the size of the body or size of the rack.
If we could judge humans by their size, how old would Rosie O'Donnell be?
If we judged a woman's age by size of the rack, how about Dolly Parton?
I thought the deer were 4.5 and 2.5 because they looked in both body and rack to be about what I see for that age in NJ, although 4.5 is extremely rare, 2.5 fairly common. I'm sure I'm wrong, as those were probably the two most obvious choices.. Probably the smaller rack is older..
In the South the small rack deer with a big body and crooked nose would be consided an older deer. We'll see I guess.
Why did I wake up this morning thinking this is an April Fools Joke?
Most of these guys don't hunt CT:)
My www.deerage.com results for 2010:
Coues Whitetail - 6.5 years old
Black Bear - 5 years old
Antelope - 5.5 years old
Canadian Moose - 4.5 years old
Whitetail Doe - 4.5 years old
Whitetail Doe - 7.5 years old
It is fun to go thru the process. My biggest surprise was getting the age of my Moose. I would have thought it was 8 to 10 years old but it qualified for P&Y and was only 4.5!!
I'm going with the overwhelming guess, though I was running fast and think I made a mistake on my guess.
My main clue that affects my reasoning is antler thickness at the bases. This after doing loads of antler shed hunting.
I hear the teeth tell the real story, but the bucks werent smiling...
yeup, they dont know CT deer and populations.... folks are gonna be surprised LOL
. . . and the answer is . . .
I guessed 7.5 for the 1st buck, but would have felt good had I said 8.5.
He just looked that old.
The second deer was an easy one.
Great feature Pat.
Man I was close, I got the 2nd deer but the first one I was 1 year off. I knew he was an older deer because you said you shot him 4 years earlier and he was a six point for some years.
Dang, I had the 2nd deer correct, but I was one year too young on the first deer.
sorry, dont' mean to be opposing, but I've aged a lot of deer in person and that first one just does not look that old to me, to be from the NE, maybe texas. he just does not look to have the shoulder mass or jaw structure, face too long for me. I've shot a 4.5 and 2 5.5yr olds personally that all looked older in the face and body.
how were they aged ?
I remembered when you showed the clip of that deer. You said that he was 7.5. The second deer I put him at 2.5, because he does not have the tine length, beam, or the mass. Now I did look at him like I would here in NW Pa. He would be judged as a 1.5-2.5. Thanks Pat it was fun.
Pat, not saying its not correct, just that it doesn't have the appearence of a buck that old is all I was saying.
I just want to congratulate the few that got both right
What let you identify him as the same buck when he went from six to eight points?
woohoo got them both right!!!...but was unlucky in the draw...oh well...it was fun
Less than 1/2 of 1%. So much for a lot of guys that say they can judge a deer's age on the hoof!
Missed each by 1 year. Cool feature.
I personally don't beleave you can accurately judge the age of some bucks over the age of 4.5, too many differences from region to region and deer to deer unless you have history with a particular deer from early in his life. Nathan K
mtn_goat: You are absolutely correct and that is why we do cementun annuli aging of the teeth. These rings like rings on a tree tell the actual age.
Watch the video on the link and your opinion will be confirmed! C
The old one was a really cool buck with a great story. I love being able to know the actual age of the dead deer.
I wish I saved a tooth on my 2010 CT Buck, I had him guessed at 7-8+ Years old.
Next time I will save and send them a tooth! Great Forum feature!
Given three or four guesses I never would have gotten the old bucks age. Sure looked young for his age. Nice game....
This Topic has been locked. Thank you.
