If you know anything about deer teeth, get in here!

My wife shot her first deer, was a cull buck. I aged him on the hoof at 4.5-5.5 plus because of belly and sway of back. One the ground his head was the size of a mule. The teeth show he is older, however the molars tell a defferent story then the front teeth. The molars match 6.5 to 7.5 years but the front teeth (#1,2,3) are ground beyond what is shown in any of the guides. One is even missing. At the end of the day the correct answer is that he was about done chewing, I was just wondering if anyone had seen this before or if anyone felt they had a better guess at his age. Note: he was taken SW of Hondo. Other deer from 2.5 - 5.5 have all had teeth that were more in line with expected wear.

With the islands showing in the middle of the back molars that deer is 8 1/2 plus...hard to tell after that but i bet he is older

you can tell he wouldnt have made it much longer unless he had some sweet feed...he is drawn down bad.

Id put him at 9 1/2

Old, not sure about the age but soil type has to be considered when checking tooth wear. Sandy soil will cause more tooth wear since they get a lot of it in their feed and it wears the teeth more. But agree with the others that is an old buck

Or older a true trophy based on age alone.

x2 not many deer get to see a decade

That deer is definitely a old man bet hes seen some stuff in his seasons

Old deer. I'd put him in his 7th or 8th year at least. Lots of factors can play on a deer's teeth. Forage type, the health of the deer (as a result of disease, parasites, drought, injury, etc), the water they drink, or whether or not he smoked too much crack... In that case, he is probably in his 4th or 5th year if he started smoking crack in his 2nd year, got tapeworms in his 3rd, suffered severe drought stress in his 2nd through 4th year, drank water that was too acidic, and broke his leg at 2 years... Lots of factors out there in the wild... It's a cruel world sometimes for the white-tailed deer.

Great deer! Those old wise ones are the best trophies - and the horns just are what they are. Shoot the body, not the horns! Congrats!

I would love to have pictures of his last 5 antlers. Just to see the rise and fall.

Definitely 8+

Grandpappy deer!!!!

He didn't have many years left in him. Rare trophy right there

I'd say 8 1/2 plus, but it get's real hard to accurately age them past 6 1/2, based on teeth.

8.5 +

I don't always hunt but if I'm not I'm fishing!

He had very little fat, but still had a lot of muscle mass.

8 yr old could be a lot of things on teeth wear, my best guess would be forage conditions the past 2 years of life

Grandpa for sure

There is some point where you just can't differentiate from year to year. He has made it to that point. Very old.

Trophy of a lifetime! You will probably never see an older one.

8.5+. Old enough....congrats

Found another photo on the hoof!

I'd say 8+, grandpappy!

We killed a 10pt couple years back like that. The taxi said he was at least 8 1/2+. On the downhill.

man he is THICK! Great deer to take out and like others have said a true trophy at his age.

Wish you would have done a "guess the age" on him.

And fantastic trophy, hope you got lots of buttermilk!

I would have fail the guess his age game. I got the mature part (4+) but I had no idea until I saw his teeth. He is tough, but not rank. Does anyone think they would have put him 7.5+ on hoof?

I wouldn't have. Maybe at 5 1/2 but I'm not near as good at judging age as some of these guys.

I wouldnt have put a number on him judging from the first picture, my guess would have been OLD. Still wont put an number on him even after looking at the teeth, but I would feel comfortable saying 7.5 plus.

I've never eaten any venison from a deer that old. How is it?

A tell-tell sign to look for on that deer would be the callus's growing on his knees. A lot of mature deer will have these.

7.5 YO plus buck with callus's


A 4.5 YO without them

This buck got out of the ark when Noah lowered the door, but was still hangin' with the ladies. You go boy!