ORIGINAL: GregH
I realize that the tooth wear doesn't look all that extreme in the pics, you have to see them in person. I have jaw bones from 2 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 year old deer that I used for comparrison also. As stated above, the area where these deer are from is not that hard on their teeth compared to other areas.
I saw both deer the year before I shot them, they were older than 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 when I saw them for the first time.
As I said Greg, I'm definately no expert butdueto my profession in pathologyI have quite an interest in this subject. It is a well known that rack size, deer weight, coat color, and overall appearance can give a general 'young deer'or'mature age' classification, but nothing more.
While tooth wear aging isa much better indicator, there are geographic variations in this methodas well.The dentine thickness compared to the enamel thickness is the keycomponent of this techniquealong with how much the last cusp of the back molar slopes down. One thing is for certain, regardless of locationan 8.5 y/o deer has extreme wear to the point ofcupped dishes for mid molars, and yours doesn't look anything like that to me, but a wildlife biologist could tell you more. The front incisor analysis would certainly be the best way to go in the case of both jaws you pictured. Let me know if you get this done, or if you get a local biologist to examine yours as I'm very interested in what they'd conclude.