Found this guy last winter. age??

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sapperJ24

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Found this guy last winter outside of town, I figured he was past his prime and on the down turn based on the mass and number of tines. Based on some recent threads, I'm wondering if he ever had it in him (the area isn't known for good genetics). I thought the teeth were pretty worn and guessed he was 8+ (10?). Wondering what you guys think, and unfortunately at this point there's no way to verify, so I suppose that makes me the jerk...

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That's a really old bull based on the premolars and molars. Don't think I have ever seen a bull with that much decline in antler though. A bull I shot a few years ago was aged at Madson's lab and came back at 13 and his rack was still in the 330 range. All bulls are different though. He lived a long life. Thanks for sharing a cool find.
 
@2rocky Thanks for the info and links. I'll have to check out Madson's in the future.

@Griztrax I thought he was just a young raghorn when I came up on him, but was pretty surprised when I saw how smoothly worn his teeth were.
 
Did you keep the bottom jaw? If so you can send an incisor in for cementum aging. If not, the ivories work as well, although not as well.
 
Looks very old. We aged a 21 year old bull from Washington a few years ago, guy had pics of sheds from previous year and found it dead the following spring. Reminded me of the movie Benjamin Button. If I remember correctly the bull was similar to this one in year 20, with the sheds, and in his last year he was basically a rag horn with more mass from significant regression.

We can age the ivories as mentioned above, although the lower incisors provide the best ages. We can also send you the crown back as we only process the root.

Griztrax said:
That's a really old bull based on the premolars and molars. Don't think I have ever seen a bull with that much decline in antler though. A bull I shot a few years ago was aged at Madson's lab and came back at 13 and his rack was still in the 330 range. All bulls are different though. He lived a long life. Thanks for sharing a cool find.
Click to expand...

I have noticed this with several bulls we have aged in the 11-13 year range scoring well above 300, as high as 350-380. Makes me curious what they score as a 6-8 year old as the archery record Felix bull from a few years ago we aged as 6.
 
Big Sky Guy said:
Looks very old. We aged a 21 year old bull from Washington a few years ago, guy had pics of sheds from previous year and found it dead the following spring. Reminded me of the movie Benjamin Button. If I remember correctly the bull was similar to this one in year 20, with the sheds, and in his last year he was basically a rag horn with more mass from significant regression.

We can age the ivories as mentioned above, although the lower incisors provide the best ages. We can also send you the crown back as we only process the root.



I have noticed this with several bulls we have aged in the 11-13 year range scoring well above 300, as high as 350-380. Makes me curious what they score as a 6-8 year old as the archery record Felix bull from a few years ago we aged as 6.
Click to expand...
Big Sky Guy - do you work at Madson's Lab? I will be sending at least one tooth in for aging this winter and FWP has teeth off of my son's elk and deer that will get sent in for aging also. A couple buddies and I always send our teeth in together for aging and I compare the cementum age with the age I estimate from the jaw. With regard to antler size, I really wish I knew what my 13 year old bull looked like as a 6-8 year old. I'm guessing there was some regression in the antlers.
 
Griztrax said:
Big Sky Guy - do you work at Madson's Lab? I will be sending at least one tooth in for aging this winter and FWP has teeth off of my son's elk and deer that will get sent in for aging also. A couple buddies and I always send our teeth in together for aging and I compare the cementum age with the age I estimate from the jaw. With regard to antler size, I really wish I knew what my 13 year old bull looked like as a 6-8 year old. I'm guessing there was some regression in the antlers.
Click to expand...

Yes I work at Matson’s. Look forward to aging your all’s teeth and the teeth from this bull!
 
Big Sky Guy said:
I have noticed this with several bulls we have aged in the 11-13 year range scoring well above 300, as high as 350-380. Makes me curious what they score as a 6-8 year old as the archery record Felix bull from a few years ago we aged as 6.
Click to expand...
well above 300, as high as 350-380, but may be less, not more.

A few years back neighbor shot a big bull in the 370 to 380 range. He was aged at 16. I had been watching him for seven years. His best year was at age 14 when he scored 390. The first year I saw him he was solid above 350. Back before I had a good wildlife camera or I would have pictures. I do have some of his sheds but not all of them and would have to dig them out of the pile to get pictures of them all together. The white antler is from age 13 and the brown is from age 14.Big six.JPGelk l.JPG
 
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