Determining Age?
 

So, how do YOU age a deer? IMHO, Seems pretty simple on the shows because those people have been hunting the same areas for years or have people that have been watching the areas they hunt along with trail cams in the woods they can pretty much pick out a deer by recognition and tell you, that deer is a 3 yr old. But I would like to know what you look at/for to determine a deers age that you have never seen before. And I'm not talking about after the fact, is, looking at his/her teeth, I'm talking about when its walking thru the woods before you try for them...

It's just an educated guess looking at body size, big belly and sagging back, along with size of the rack that can be expected in the age class for whatever area you're hunting and that obviously will vary due to climate, nutrition, genetics, etc. Generally, if he's big then shoot him, LOL!

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I am howerver very fortunate to hunt very private land in Iowa, I see the same deer year after year and am able to make a decision based on how long he's been on camera.

However, when I am hunting other land that I am not the least bit familiar, I look to see if he's taller than his ears and outside his ears first, then look to the sagging belly and back, body size here in Iowa is a bit tricky though, I've seen a few 3.5 year olds just as big as a 5.5 year olds....

I'm still in the learning stages here as we are just now starting to get some older deer. What we used to think were 3.5 are actually only 2.5. Last year we aged the bigger bucks by looking at tooth wear and our biggest buck was 3.5 (we thought at least 4.5 until we looked at the teeth) and the others that we thought had to be at least 3.5 were only 2.5 after looking at tooth wear. I say all of that to say that I am now looking at our deer herd differently. I used to think any buck scoring in the 130's was a 3.5 for sure, but several of the bucks last year that I looked at in terms of tooth wear were only 2.5 while scoring in the 130's or 140's. It's hard to judge a deer on the hoof when you've never seen it before so the trail camera data is extremely important so that you can judge a deer when you are hunting because you already know approximately how old a deer is before you see him in person. One of the neighbors shot a beautiful 8 point scoring int he mid 130's last year and thought it was for sure a 3.5 but when we aged it by tooth wear it was a 2.5. It also explains why we haven't seen amny true giants. If we shoot bucks at 2.5 and they never have time to truly mature then they won't become the giants we are hoping for. I also think it's hard to recognize a buck from year 1 into year 2, but as they go from year 2 into year 3, they become much more identifiable. Sorry this got so long winded, but I guess for me the best way for me to judge a buck is to get some trail camera pictures of him first.

Yes u really can't tell the age of a buck by his head gear. That has been proven thru research obviously. I have been huntin my land for 20 yrs now and there are bucks on my propery I never have seen but find there massive sheds. These deer I know are very mature lime over 6 yrs old id say. I judge a deer by his belly and hair color. My exp is they start to turn gray in the muzzle and get that sway back with bulging belly. Other times you can see scratches or scars on his back from his antlers cuz his body is massive and sometimes this happens. Also when u see a buck and your not sure if he is a shooter and you are second guessing yourself...well then he prolly isn't a shooter! You want that "wow" factor when u see a trophy when u get that feeling then u know he's the one lol