Age this deer

[400out]

I am having a heck of a time trying to figure out the approx. age of this buck  any of you experts got a idea? I have looked a different angles but just can't do it!I will look and see if I have anymore shots with different angles  His face just looks young to me 

[bobcat]

Gotta be at least 4 1/2 is all I can say.

[400out]

I was think the same but the lack of any roman nose just has me confused 

[woodywsu]

3.5 based on face. Good genetics there.

[bobcat]

If he's only 3 1/2, that's really good genetics and/or feed.   

[jackmaster]

3.5 to 4.5 and it looks as if they have great minerals and genetics, care to give up your spot  j/k i could not give up on the blackies even for a weekend 

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

I can have the teeth aged if you know what i mean!

[Kowsrule30]

Big body but the pics of the face are deceiving... I think he's 4 1/2...

[Mudman]

6.

[Spuddieselwwu]

5.

[bobcat]

When you say 5 or 6, are you rounding up, or down?

[Kowsrule30]

When you say 5 or 6, are you rounding up, or down?

Maybe they're saying he was a very late fawn...       

[jackelope]

Read one of the posts Doublelung made recently regarding aging a deer on the hoof. I'll see if I can find it.

[Curly]

That rack makes his body look small. 

[jackelope]

Here you go.. Hope he doesn't mind me plagiarizing him.

I have had the privilege of collecting hundreds of samples of teeth from harvested bucks, estimated their ages and then had the teeth lab aged.  Even within a local population, the variation is tremendous, and ages are very difficult to estimate based on the appearance of the deer.  I have seen small-bodied bucks with forked horns less than 8" long, that any game bio would call yearlings, but which when field checked had 50% tooth wear and came back as 4-6 year olds.  I've seen big, stout hog-bodied, sway-backed thick-antlered bucks, that I'd have classed as dominant 6.5-9.5 year olds; but with sharp pointy teeth come back as 3 year olds, including a 29" outside spread 5x5 whitetail and 30"+ mule deer.

When I can look at their teeth in hand, 90% of the time I am able to guess age within +/-1 year.  Without looking at the teeth, just field-dressed carcass and antlers, I'd say I'm 90%+ on 1.5 and 2.5; for buck deer 3.5 - 4.5, maybe 70%; over 4.5, I'm lucky to be 50%. 

The oldest hunter-harvested buck I've seen from WA was a 13.5 y.o. buck killed in the Swakane late archery.  He was a slick 4 point with average mass, about 20-22" outside spread, no trash, a slender face and a straight back.  Without a look at his teeth, I'd have confidently called him a 3.5 year old. Based on his worn out teeth, I estimated him at 12+, which the tooth aging validated.

I've known enough bucks that were notable and showed up on the same winter ranges for 7-9 years, to believe that trophy bucks are big early in life.  I've only killed 2 bucks that gave me a twinge that I might have killed a great buck before it reached its potential: a 2.5 year old, 22" 4x4 with eyeguards that scored 145, and a 4.5 year old, 31" 4x5 with eyeguards. 

Guessing ages on game animals is fun, but without the teeth I maintain it is a game.  The bear I killed in September was a humbling classic: a game warden, a game biologist and an extremely experienced successful hunter all estimated him as a 2 year old boar; when he hit the dirt, "he" immediately became a 20+ year old sow (exact tooth age pending).