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How To Age A Deer On The Hoof

October 31, 2020

Multiple photos, or lots of time to study the deer in person, are obviously preferred. Looking at the tall portion of the crests, you simply compare the width of the dentine to the width of the enamel.

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At some point or another, a whitetail hunter will face a dilemma in the woods or fields.

How to age a deer on the hoof. An important thing to keep in mind is that deer characteristics will vary depending on where the deer population is located. The ability to age deer on the hoof is an important skill for a variety of reasons. Aging deer on the hoof is one of the most used methods by both hunters and biologists.

To implement this practice, hunters must have the ability to accurately age bucks on the hoof based on their body characteristics, an ability that most hunters considered impossible a decade ago. So, while aging a buck on the hoof is never 100% accurate, it’s still a beneficial practice. Read on for my 3 steps to more accurately aging bucks on the hoof!

It’s a learned skill that blends experience with the physical characteristics of deer. Texas parks and wildlife biologists have been using this deer aging technique to manage deer on ranches, wildlife management areas and by county since 1965. In fact, it is a vital skill required to be able to affect sound and selective deer management.

The ability to age live deer, or deer “on the hoof,” is a beneficial skill for all deer hunters and managers. First, if you hunt on or are part of a hunt club with a quality deer management philosophy, the plan will rarely work if you only use antler points as a judge of age. Regardless of antler size, any deer that is taken this late in life is a trophy, though.

Although this method is not perfect, it has been Experience remains paramount to one’s ability to estimate the age of live deer. Aging deer on the hoof remains an educated guess.

The age humans produce the first child is highly variable. While the science of aging deer on the hoof hasn’t been mastered, the art of predicting maturity can be. Simply because deer this old have learned what it takes to avoid hunters.

Then i spend the rest of the time refining that estimate,” hellickson says. How to age a deer. Many hunters and landowners are implementing quality deer management (qdm) approaches into their management activities or have an interest in increasing their opportunity for harvesting larger bucks.

Additionally, in our free weekly e. Say a deer is shot at 5 1/2 years of age, well then if the buck is readily identifiable you can go back to your photo vault and see that same deer in prior years, say at 3 and 4 years of age and see how his physical and antler characteristics have changed. You’ll also receive a free copy of our dvd, aging and scoring bucks on the hoof, with any qdma membership.

A deer steps out into one of your shooting lanes. Guide to aging deer on the hoof. Even seasoned hunters make mistakes.

Aging deer on the hoof. Whether you are aging whitetail deer or aging mule deer or just about any deer, learning these skills will help you become a better hunter. In addition most does give birth as yearlings or as two year old does.

How to age whitetail deer on the hoof. Using trail cameras and having your deer kills aged by a reputable laboratory like deerage.com will help you learn the characteristics of different age classes in your hunting area. With practice, aging a deer on the hoof can be done almost instantaneously.

Each time you take the quiz you will be randomly given 10 different bucks from our question bank to age! It can get a bit tricky trying to assign every buck an age that is specific to a single year, such as 3.5 year old. Aging a buck to estimate the age of a buck on the hoof, you need a clear look at a few characteristics that are most visible when the deer is broadside.

“i have an idea in my head of how old the buck is as soon as i see him. “you can make an educated guess about a buck's age in 5 to 10 seconds.” Today however, hunters across the whitetail’s range are estimating the age … read more

Every year during opening weekend of firearms season, biologists with the indiana department of natural resources show up at check stations around the state to compile information regarding the age and sex structure of that weekend's deer harvest. Bucks in this age class sport 95 to 100 percent of their antler potential. Assuming you want to shoot older bigger deer, you want to know how old the buck is before it is dead and you examine the teeth.

Being able to determine a deer's age when you're hunting is a major factor in controlling deer populations and promoting a diverse spectrum of ages among the deer. When attempting to age deer in the bush, the nutritional status of the animals must also be considered. There is no reason whatsoever why deer stalkers cannot learn this.

The quiz database currently contains over 60 unique bucks and will grow in the future! I tend to age does on the hoof as immature, prime, and elderly based on the shape of their body. The largest racks are generally grown between 5 and 7 years of age.

First, aging deer on the hoof is not an exact science.

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