Can you accurately age a deer past 5.5?

[twn417]

I feel I can generally age a deer to 4.5 without a problem. If I have history with a deer past 4 I can of course keep track of his age, but I am not sure how many people out there can accurately age a deer one they get to 6 and older on the huff.

I believe I can tell most of time when a buck is 5.5 or older by field judging, but to accurately tell if a deer is 6, 7, or 8 with no history is something I can not do.

What about you?

 

[skyleralan]

I'm the same. It is all a guessing game past 4. I remember when Bill Winke was aging deer he shot and then having everyone guess how old they were and then revealing the data when the teeth were aged. It was interesting how close and how far off some were.

Like cataloging your trail cam photos. I try and only keep photos of bucks that are 3+, there are times though when I wonder if some of those bucks are only 3 or vice versa. A couple bucks that are only 2ish I will keep their photos if they are sporting something unique and then again I have the whole debate in my head how old they are.

 

[loneranger]

I have trouble past 3. You cannot judge by antler. I have a 4 yr old,,aged by tooth that sports almost a 160 rack,,compared to a tooth aged 5 yr old with a 145 score. The 4 yr old had a body more like a 3 yr. My 6 yr old though thick at the bases, more like 130 rack and so-so size body,,so is a big guessing game in my book!

 

[2-bucks]

I sure cannot.