Schaaf
Well-known member
Hard to catch a 5.7 liter 2013 tundra!
MT Mule Deer Age data accuracy and reality
- Thread starter The Hedgehog
- Start date
cgasner1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2016
- Messages
- 2,978
When I got my paddlefish this year they gave out hats if you turned in the lower now for aging. I already have a couple heads that have been beatled so I just gave them the entire head. Couple months back I got a letter from fwp telling me that they couldn’t age my fish due to me not giving them enough of the jaw. They had the entire head
The Hedgehog
Well-known member
Given the color, should be a great ride for those trying to skirt the perimeter of check stations under the cover of darkness.
1) maybe 10. 4 were MD.
2) Maybe one via tooth wear at Hysham check station. That was a whitetail.
3)I sent one of the mule deer in for cementum aging came back at 4.5 years old.
4) I’ve had a couple elk at the Augusta check station aged and a whitetail doe.
This was the 4.5 year old I sent to Matson’s.
2) Maybe one via tooth wear at Hysham check station. That was a whitetail.
3)I sent one of the mule deer in for cementum aging came back at 4.5 years old.
4) I’ve had a couple elk at the Augusta check station aged and a whitetail doe.
This was the 4.5 year old I sent to Matson’s.
BuzzH
Well-known member
I remember in about 1998 I shot my 50th deer in Montana, probably shot another 20 or so since then. My family has shot a bunch as well, guessing another 150-200 between them.
Only "ages" we've gotten were from the ones that went through the check station when it was open, and those ages are pretty questionable when its a biologist with a jaw spreader and a flashlight looking at tooth wear. I'm sure some of the ages were pretty close, but hard to say.
Almost hate to bring this up, but even then the ages one of the old biologists would give animals was highly suspect. My brother shot a 1.5 year old cow elk with hollow ivories one year. The old biologist looked at the molars and declared it as 10 years old. Happened to be another biologist there that I knew and trusted asked him to come take a look, he called it 1.5. I mean the body size alone was enough to know it wasn't 10.
Its this cow here, the short face, smallish body, no way that's a 10 year old cow, of course the hollow egg shell ivories were a dead giveaway.
Only "ages" we've gotten were from the ones that went through the check station when it was open, and those ages are pretty questionable when its a biologist with a jaw spreader and a flashlight looking at tooth wear. I'm sure some of the ages were pretty close, but hard to say.
Almost hate to bring this up, but even then the ages one of the old biologists would give animals was highly suspect. My brother shot a 1.5 year old cow elk with hollow ivories one year. The old biologist looked at the molars and declared it as 10 years old. Happened to be another biologist there that I knew and trusted asked him to come take a look, he called it 1.5. I mean the body size alone was enough to know it wasn't 10.
Its this cow here, the short face, smallish body, no way that's a 10 year old cow, of course the hollow egg shell ivories were a dead giveaway.
The Hedgehog
Well-known member
Glad to hear about Augusta check station aging animals. I’ve never seen that, neither had a handful of friends I asked today who’ve hunted there a ton. I was thinking the video comments were complete BS, when they were actually just proof of very poor sample size.
1. 27-30 probably close to 20 being whitetail
2. Never
3. Never
4. Only check station I have seen in the last 15 years was Chevalier around 2012. I haven't seen it run for years now. Too be honest it was the first and only one I have seen. I have traveled some threw hunting seasons but tend to stick within a hour of home. Last year going out east I was surprised I didn't come across one.
Off the board but I have only been checked 2 times in 20 years of hunting for a license and normal chat by a warden hunting. Fish I seem to get a check every 2 years or so. Been getting less it seems... It used to be yearly 2 or 3 times.
2. Never
3. Never
4. Only check station I have seen in the last 15 years was Chevalier around 2012. I haven't seen it run for years now. Too be honest it was the first and only one I have seen. I have traveled some threw hunting seasons but tend to stick within a hour of home. Last year going out east I was surprised I didn't come across one.
Off the board but I have only been checked 2 times in 20 years of hunting for a license and normal chat by a warden hunting. Fish I seem to get a check every 2 years or so. Been getting less it seems... It used to be yearly 2 or 3 times.
Brent does a pretty good job of record keeping at the Augusta check station imo. I’m not aware though that they have started pulling teeth there to age critters that come through. They may be doing it though.
cgasner1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2016
- Messages
- 2,978
Don’t lie everyone had already gone home for Turkey dinner went you went strolling by
cgasner1
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2016
- Messages
- 2,978
I just got a call from the fish biologist about this someone must have his personal number. My fish was only 2 of 40 samples that they had issues with the numbers that fwp received back from the jaw didn’t line up with the band it had so they removed them from the sampling.
tkhuntsman
Well-known member
I'll play I guess 5 bucks and several does in the 5 years I've lived and hunted in MT. None of them have been aged or checked.
Hem
Well-known member
I've killed 33 deer in Montana over the years. Think I had maybe two checked in Hysham. Don't remember, I believe they wanted to pull a tooth in each case but in order to do so they wanted to cut the hide at the back...which I refused...mounted both deer. Come to think of it maybe a Bullwacker deer was checked somewhere around Great Falls.
Hem
Well-known member
Whitetails...no harm no foul.Well if you mounted them they must have been good. Skewing those results to the low end
Hem
Well-known member
Dandies, though.
popeyoung12
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2021
- Messages
- 317
all our big whitetails are weighed, scored and the only true way to age is to send a tooth into the mt. lab. we have taken about 400 bucks off the same chunk, and i am shocked at the age sometimes. book [email protected]? base girth and dressed weight will lead us to a general idea but until we get the tooth age from the lab, who knows. having young bios look at a jaw is a swag imo.
1) Couple dozen
2) I’ve had half dozen checked at Augusta Check station
3) FWP has always done teeth wear aging
4) most animals I’ve brought through Augusta that wasn’t skull capped was aged (hasn’t always been consistent aging compared to what cementum aging was from the same deer)
2) I’ve had half dozen checked at Augusta Check station
3) FWP has always done teeth wear aging
4) most animals I’ve brought through Augusta that wasn’t skull capped was aged (hasn’t always been consistent aging compared to what cementum aging was from the same deer)
sclancy27
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2022
- Messages
- 616
1. I've killed a little over 10 mule deer bucks (in MT), no whitetails. A fair number of whitey does.
2 & 3. I've never had any of them aged at a check station. I was trained in college how to age by tooth wear and the again with WGFD while working check stations. I age them, then usually confirm with cementum. I am usually pretty close. Tooth wear, with somebody well trained, can be reliable.
4. Never been thru Augusta during season.
2 & 3. I've never had any of them aged at a check station. I was trained in college how to age by tooth wear and the again with WGFD while working check stations. I age them, then usually confirm with cementum. I am usually pretty close. Tooth wear, with somebody well trained, can be reliable.
4. Never been thru Augusta during season.
