This is the jaw from the 10pt I got about a month ago. Pretty interesting how old this guy was...

It was close to you doing him a favor

How old do you think he was?

I would guess 8 or 9

Ty, most biologist won't try and age a deer to the exact age after 8. They'll just age it as 8+. I think this one will fit that bill.

He's definitely long, or in this case, short in the tooth!

Gary, does the Texana supplementally feed protein, and if so, is it year-round?

They do feed protein and it's mostly year round. They did stop when the acorns dropped but are going to start again soon as the supply of acorns on the ground is starting to dry up.

I shot a wide 8 pt. years ago who had one of the biggest chest I've ever seen on a deer,but his back side -hips and all were really thin,he still dressed #177.I personally don't believe in the teeth dating method and there are several reasons why and because of witnessing several deer on our farms that we had seen for 10 years,but anyway this bucks teeth/lackof were all the way worn down to the gums.One deer that was in a deer pen(buck) ,my wife and I had counted 17 years old at least,and this buck had all his teeth and would look just like the deer the checkout station would say is 2 1/2.The original owner of the deer had died several years back but his brother took over and when my wife and I were questioning him about this buck he told us we were right but he didn't know exactly how old he was.Unfortuneatly he eventually shut the deer pen down so I don't know how many more years this buck may have lived.Anyone who thinks I'm out there should look at the Desi buck ,who lived 12 1/2 years ,had his best rack at 10 1/2 was a young spike and started sporting a giant rack at 6 1/2 years old.

We all know ancient humans with perfect looking teeth (and they didn't buy them from their dentist!) and youngsters with teeth that look like they belong in a 90 yr old. Food habits make a difference in how long teeth last.

There will always be exceptions (differences in food habits, habitat, and geography), but the tooth wear method works pretty well. You may not be able to use all of the same criteria from state to state, but it won't be dramatically far off for most deer.

The method has been validated by at least two sets of data: comparing tooth eruption and wear on deer of known age and by determining the age of deer by counting cementum rings in a tooth (one ring produced per year). If you expect exact ages and no exceptions--you are right. Not 100%, not perfect, but a good method, none the less.

Here's a guide to the method from the Texas F&G people you might find useful --

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0755.pdf

I'm not the only one who looks at body weight/shape as a closer estimate and the rack too,several of the game wardens I talk to believe as I do and like I say the reasoning for my conclusions were because of observations of the farms we were hunting watching the same deer over the years along with the farmers who gave these bucks nicknames as well as some of the older does.I had a colledge girl argue the point of the teeth aging method,she was telling me tooth wear/growth indictated I had a yearling and when I told her she(doe) had a yearling that was feeding off of her and a full milk sack when I dressed her,she told me thats what the teeth age showed and thats what she was recording and the game warden that I know pretty good just stood there shaking his head and laughing,by-the-way,hes a fellow bowhunter who observes the older deer on the farms he hunts and thinks the way I do as body weight/structure,rack size is a much closer estimate of age.When I skin out a head of a whopper buck its interesting to note the thickness of the skin as opposed to a younger animal that the skin is thinner and you have a bluish tint to the skin because of the hair bulbs showing through,I guess what I'm trying to say is just like humans the more years we live the heavier alot of us become,wrinkles excess skin,ect.... we have and thats usually indicative of age.

Your right. If you pay attention you can tell a difference.

There are a lot of hunters that hunt were it is challenge to take a deer and they have the mentality of “its brown and its down.”