So the first buck had one maybe two people guess correctly at 5.5 years old. This was one I had targeted the season before but never laid eyes on. Got some late season pics of him so knew he would be around next year.
Wasn't sure how old he was but figured he was mature and was definitely on the top three of the hit list. While scouting post season I found his shed in a bed very near where I had spent some time hunting that season.
I picked out a tree to hunt to catch him in that bed the next season and ended up killing him about half a mile away near a big doe bedding area in peak rut. He was a huge bodied deer and I guessed him to be peak size at 6.5 years old. I was off by a year.
The second buck was the main reason I started this thread. One person guessed 6.5, all the other guesses were less than that. He was aged at 9.5 years old! This was a buck that I had actually passed up 4 years earlier during bow season thinking he was still young. He had very short tines but was pretty wide then, I figured he would be pretty nice in a few years. The next season I hunted him with no success, but I did figure out where he was bedded right under my nose and I bumped him going in a few times. Out of curiosity I put a cam in that bed to see if he came back and got some pics of him late season.
The next season I had a cam down in a funnel not far from that bed and got one pic of him in velvet at 7.5 years old.
That was the last I saw of him until late 2016 in the rut, and killed him a little over a month later 100 yards from the first bed I found that he was using. We called him the ghost because he was so elusive after those first few encounters. When I walked up on him I knew he was very old, he had a huge head and a very long body. I have to find a pic of his skull next to some other younger bucks I have, it is quite an amazing difference. He was fairly thin that time of year with little to no fat reserves on him. I'm guessing he would have broken the 200 pound mark dressed out a month or so earlier. He lost a lot of weight. The first thing I noticed was that he had a very distinct odor like that of a nursing home or something. Almost smelled like mothballs. Even the meat had that taste to it, I can smell it even after making jerky out of it. Knew he was a senior for sure. I actually guessed him to be older than he was. What an amazing survivor, I hold a lot of respect for that old buck.
Number three was guessed correct by just a few people at 5.5 years old. This was a buck that showed up in November of 2016, never had seen him before then. He had a busted tine on the drivers side, so we thought he may have gotten the boot from wherever he came from by a bigger buck.
We figured him to be a 3.5 year old with some great potential then. He offered my brother multiple opportunities a few days in a row but he elected to pass on him taking some great pictures and video instead. He was very predominant figure in the area after that so we had a feeling he would be easy to kill. The next season he was easily the best buck around and I put a lot of effort into putting a tag on him. On december 9th I finally sealed the deal on him from the same stand my brother had seen him from the year before. I figured him to be 4.5 but was wrong by a year again. My brother thought 3.5. He was the hardest to age for several reasons. First was that he was small bodied only weighing in dressed at 141. Maybe he lost a lot of weight during the rut, but he did have a deep puncture wound in the front shoulder that was filled with puss. So much so that I don't think any meat was salvageable from that shoulder. Also when caping him out in the shed he was hanging a foot off the ground where most other bucks were touching their nose to the ground. Maybe he was a runt or something. Either way he was sporting one of the nicest racks we had seen in years around here. Anything close to 140 is rare around here in the northern CT berkshires. He was a 137, my best to date.
So thanks for all the guesses, I threw in the jaw bones just to see if anyone saw something I didn't. They all look the same to me. I would figure a 9.5 year old would have few teeth left, but he was still sporting some healthy chompers. I have no faith in looking at molars to get an age on a deer after this. I'm going to make it a point to send out more teeth from now on because I believe that the only accurate guess I personally can make is simply if a deer is mature or not. It's fun to know the exact age and help put some more of the puzzle pieces together. I know some will question the results of cementum annuli, and I'm not going to claim its 100%, but it is proven to be the most accurate way to age deer that is available.
Thanks again all, good luck this season. shoot straight..