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Overestimation of bucks ages….

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redblood

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I see lots of threads referencing ages of deer. Many reference deer 5.5, 6.5 and even older. I dont think its an intentional embellishment but its incredibly rare for a buck to reach those kind of ages. Even in a situation that im in where there are pretty big tracts of protected land and hunter restraint ( i havent killed a buck here since 2016) , and i overlook these deer 365 days a year- it pretty darn hard to get one past 5.5 before they fall of the grid. So my question is, what criteria do you use to project a deer is say 7.5 yrs of age.
 
Once you get past 5.5, their coat grooming sometimes suffers.

This buck is 5.5, nice healthy coat
 

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This one is 6.5... hard to tell since he is bristled out in this pic, but getting ragged, plus he's missing about 10% of the hair off his back from fighting
 

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redblood said:
I see lots of threads referencing ages of deer. Many reference deer 5.5, 6.5 and even older. I dont think its an intentional embellishment but its incredibly rare for a buck to reach those kind of ages. Even in a situation that im in where there are pretty big tracts of protected land and hunter restraint ( i havent killed a buck here since 2016) , and i overlook these deer 365 days a year- it pretty darn hard to get one past 5.5 before they fall of the grid. So my question is, what criteria do you use to project a deer is say 7.5 yrs of age.
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I have only had a hand full like 4 in my life that I thought was 7.5 plus. One I killed and sent the jaw bone off and he was 8.5. Another one was also killed and sent the jaw bone off he was 7.5. The other 2 trail camera history. Not nearly as reliable and a guess. I have one now that got shot 2 years ago we thought he was 5.5 but even if he was 4.5 he is now 6.5. And sense he was shot he is easily identified. Most people cannot judge deer age good at all.
 
redblood said:
I see lots of threads referencing ages of deer. Many reference deer 5.5, 6.5 and even older. I dont think its an intentional embellishment but its incredibly rare for a buck to reach those kind of ages. Even in a situation that im in where there are pretty big tracts of protected land and hunter restraint ( i havent killed a buck here since 2016) , and i overlook these deer 365 days a year- it pretty darn hard to get one past 5.5 before they fall of the grid. So my question is, what criteria do you use to project a deer is say 7.5 yrs of age.
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Good question, I too very rarely ever have a 6.5 and not many 5.5's
 
Without history with the animal I'd have to question anyone who guesses a buck age past 5.5yrs. Even the difference between 4.5 and 5.5 can be very iffy to guess at times. I've been guessing buck ages a long time and it is not an exact science. I will say northern deer are easier to age than southern.
 
redblood said:
I see lots of threads referencing ages of deer. Many reference deer 5.5, 6.5 and even older. I dont think its an intentional embellishment but its incredibly rare for a buck to reach those kind of ages. Even in a situation that im in where there are pretty big tracts of protected land and hunter restraint ( i havent killed a buck here since 2016) , and i overlook these deer 365 days a year- it pretty darn hard to get one past 5.5 before they fall of the grid. So my question is, what criteria do you use to project a deer is say 7.5 yrs of age.
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I agree even in a protected environment they rarely make 7 - 8 years old . Travling during the rut vehicals get quite a few plus once the rut kicks in they may leave their protected areas then poaching becomes another threat .
 
tellico4x4 said:
Since we've started sending all our bucks teeth off for cementum testing I've found that we tend to underestimate our 5+ year olds
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As in they're older than you thought? I'm not confident I could tell the difference between a 5yr and 7yr buck on the hoof. I've probably never even seen an 8yr+ on the hoof.
 
The aging system is usually done in a "minimum" assumption. Meaning you asses what characteristics a deer had developed that are most commonly possessed by mature bucks. While some deer do age quicker than others it's much more common here in the south particularly for a deer to not show some of the characteristics a buck of his age might tend to have.

I do not hunt in the areas where deer don't tend to make it past 5.5. I usually find deer and get repeat years pictures (mostly because I suck at killing them)
 
Ames plantation has been categorically aging deer and especially bucks for more than 15 years and they have aged quite a few does over 5.5 but never one buck! These folks are trained to age whitetails by tooth wear and replacement. They could be off a year but generally they are very consistent. Some of the staff have seen bucks on the hoof they thought could be older. Generally they look to body confirmation but also watch their gate. Older bucks have that stiff gate. Think of an old horse trying to run! Like the OP said. It's hard to get a buck to that age!
 
For me there are two age classes, mature and not mature. Once they get 5.5 and sometimes 4.5 you can't tell anymore they are just mature. I've seen deer that I've kept track of over the years degress in body size and antler growth after about 5.5. Different properties are different depending upon the herd. I had a farm just 5 miles from another one, one farm if we passed them up until 4.5, 9 times out of 10 they would show back up the next season. The other farm we struggle to get them to 4.5 and 9 times out of 10 they die in the winter before hitting 5.5. The herd is stressed more on one farm and the neighbors are feeding them 💩 tons of corn which makes the problem worse. I've got deer on that farm this year that we know are at least 4.5 from keeping track of them but they look not a day older than 3.5. In my opinion the best and most accurate way to age a deer is to keep up with them over the years which can be hard depending upon how much time you have on your hands

I do agree it is very hard to get them to 4.5 regardless of people shooting them. One of the biggest fallacies in hunting is there are guys that think if everyone around them passes up everything there will be an abundance of mature deer which is not the case.
 
Killed a good buck with maybe 125 inches of antler . Body looked 3.5 . Nothing abnormal till u got to his teeth. 6.5 plus tooth wear . Not sure what this means but seemed appropriate.
 
I keep files on every deer that I get on camera! 2 years ago I took a 7.5 year old 11pt with 4 years of picture history…I have two 6 year old deer this year that I have 4 years of picture history. I took a 5 year old 11 pt this year that I have 3 years of picture history.
 

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