Aging critters

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GuideGerard

New member
Anyone ever age coyotes or wolves or coons or other fur bearing critters by their teeth at a lab?
I'm sure we've all looked at the teeth or condition of certain harvested animals and just wowed at the worn down teeth and notched ears and scrappy condition but how would you actually know otherwise?
It's big in the whitetail world in some places and fascinating to learn the actual age and maturity of individual animals.

I'm fixing to give it a try - they use cementum analysis to count the rings in teeth much like you would the growth rings in a tree.
Scientific and highly accurate apparently?
 
My son has sent a few teeth off on some of our “bigger” bucks just to see how old some were, trying to figure out when our bucks reach their “max” in antler capacity. Surprisingly 4.5-5.5 is the year to take most as a trophy. One deer in particular we passed at 4.5 and never got an opportunity at 5.5, but got him at 6.5. We only had one side of his antlers following the 5.5 age, but it was 11” larger than when we killed him the following year. Granted this is less than a dozen deer so no “scientific” evidence to write home about and its just the places we hunt, but it matches what we see on cameras and sheds found on known bucks through the years.
I’ve never thought of doing it for predators. They all die no matter what age they are.
 
All that tooth aging is BS. I shot a 22” inside spread buck that I’ve had on Camera for over 7 years this past season. According to its teeth, it was approx 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years old. Same with a 163 inch eight pointer I shot the year before last that I’ve seen and had on camera for nine years. According to its teeth, it was also three years old….lol
 
crapshoot said:
Guestimsted using teeth wear chart for coyotes.
Click to expand...

That's all I've ever done. Some, I just have to say "pretty old".

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- DAA
 
I’ve shot some that did not look like they had teeth anymore. Canines were worn down to almost nothing. I’m sure those are pretty old dogs.
 
Dultimatpredator said:
All that tooth aging is BS. I shot a 22” inside spread buck that I’ve had on Camera for over 7 years this past season. According to its teeth, it was approx 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years old. Same with a 163 inch eight pointer I shot the year before last that I’ve seen and had on camera for nine years. According to its teeth, it was also three years old….lol
Click to expand...
What he’s referring to is not the wear of the teeth, but cutting and counting the rings. It takes an incisor and they cut it in half and age the deer. 100% accurate for an actual age. Normal tooth wear can be flawed by just what the deer eat.
 
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