Here's the jawbone from the oldest deer I've shot. It was aged by the lab using the cementum annuli method at 8.5 years.



Based on toothwear he would only appear to be 6.5 or 7.5 years old, but I had trail camera pictures of him the year before and he actually was starting to go downhill on antler growth so I think the 8.5 years is more likely to be correct.

He was also an 8 point and only scored 112".



Here's an interesting jawbone comparison picture I took. The top jawbone I estimated at 2.5 years old. The lower jawbone is the one aged by the lab to be 8.5 years old. Look at how much of the tooth is worn down over the years.



Here's the jawbone of the buck I took last year. I'm guessing he was either 6.5 or 7.5 based on his toothwear. I didn't send one of his incisors into the lab to be aged.



He scored even worse. He had a spike on one side that had been broken loose from the pedicle years before based on 3 years worth of trail camera pictures I had of him and a fork on the other side. I didn't get a good field photo of him, but here he is hanging from the meat pole.



I'm a sucker for an old buck, regardless of what kind of headgear they are sporting.