Oldest I've ever heard of...

[BSK]

One of my clients on the Cumberland Plateau had a doe aged through cementum annuli aging to be 19.5 years old. Rare, but it happens.

 

[BSK]

wonder is she was still dropping fawns.

I remember a report on captive deer where a doe that lived to 21.5 years old was still producing just as many fawns per year as she did when she was younger. I don't believe old does become "barren."

 

[BSK]

glad they sent off the teeth for aging or i wouldn't have believed it. 20 years is wild! didn't know they lived to be that old.

anyone know what the average age is when deer die of "old age" in TN for both bucks and does?

Really depends on habitat. I've seen does in ridge-and-hollow hardwood terrain live to be 14-15 years old. However, the upper limit is usually driven by tooth wear. At a given age, a deer's teeth wear completely away and they're no longer able to properly chew up their food and cud.

Bucks are a completely different story. Rut stress is the big killer of bucks. In steep terrain, bucks rarely live beyond 6 1/2. In flat farmland, they can make it to 8 or 9.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

is that an elk or a red deer/stag ? the antlers look ...off. have seen a red deer or two near Clinch Mountain, a few elk over the years too.

 

[Andy S.]

Spoiler alert for the Georgia doe aged at 20.5. First, I cannot look past the level of precision DeerAge posted (the 1/2 or 0.5), but I realize they are advertising for new customers, and trying to show precision like no other. Second, cementum annuli (counting rings on tooth roots) tends to overage deer in the South. For southern deer, it has been proven that two "rings" per year can form/appear on the tooth, one in the winter and one in the late summer, thus over aging. I suspect the doe may have been 15+, but I would not bet my life on the exact age DeerAge provided. I've used them and Matson's Labs (the Gold standard]) for a decade or more for CA aging "mature bucks" killed in SW TN, just as another data point to compare to TRW method and trail cam photo estimated age. Generally speaking, cementum annuli aging is better suited for animals in northern regions. For perspective, in one study conducted by Kenneth L. Hamlin et al. of the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, accuracy rates of cementum annuli were 97.3% for elk through age 14, 92.6% for mule deer through age 14, and 85.1% for white-tailed deer through 9 years old. I would expect that 85% to be lower for white-tailed deer in the south. Only way to know for sure is a tag in the ear. Article below is a good reference to manage expectations.

Which Deer Aging Technique is More Accurate, Jawbone or Cementum?

 

[BSK]

Spoiler alert for the Georgia doe aged at 20.5. First, I cannot look past the level of precision DeerAge posted (the 1/2 or 0.5), but I realize they are advertising for new customers, and trying to show precision like no other. Second, cementum annuli (counting rings on tooth roots) tends to overage deer in the South. For southern deer, it has been proven that two "rings" per year can form/appear on the tooth, one in the winter and one in the late summer, thus over aging. I suspect the doe may have been 15+, but I would not bet my life on the exact age DeerAge provided. I've used them and Matson's Labs (the Gold standard]) for a decade or more for CA aging "mature bucks" killed in SW TN, just as another data point to compare to TRW method and trail cam photo estimated age. Generally speaking, cementum annuli aging is better suited for animals in northern regions. For perspective, in one study conducted by Kenneth L. Hamlin et al. of the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, accuracy rates of cementum annuli were 97.3% for elk through age 14, 92.6% for mule deer through age 14, and 85.1% for white-tailed deer through 9 years old. I would expect that 85% to be lower for white-tailed deer in the south. Only way to know for sure is a tag in the ear. Article below is a good reference to manage expectations.

Which Deer Aging Technique is More Accurate, Jawbone or Cementum?

The reason I do not bother to have deer cementum annuli aged. No more accurate than any other method (in the Southeast, where late summer droughts that will add another growth ring are common).

 

[Snake]

A very dear friend of mine who passed on last year killed a doe on Dale Hollow several years ago. She had a metal tag in her ear so he tracked down the info. Turns out she was one of the original deer released up there and if memory serves me correctly, she was 22 years old when he killed her. I didnt see her but he said she looked just like any other adult deer, not feeble, crippled, blind, etc....

She was taking Focus Factor