My wife and I had a great time camping and hunting last week. The wind blew, it rained, sleeted and snowed. The temps. were fr

[twoforks]

My wife and I had a great time camping and hunting last week. The wind blew, it rained, sleeted and snowed. The temps. were from 15 degrees with 30 mph winds to high temps of 55. We saw a lot of deer and I shot a nice buck on out last day. Big and heavy and I think he was an older one. Anyone know how to tell the age of a mule deer?

[FirstBubba]

Others here will argue, but short of witnessing a fawns borth?
No.
A deer rancher turn several deer jaws over to a wildlife department.
The rancher knew the exact age of each deer. The attending deer "experts" aged exactly ONE of twenty jaws correctly!
Where I take most of my deer, the soil is a deep sandy loam. Deer's teeth wear excessively. Tooth aging those deer is next to impossible.

[FirstBubba]

BTW! Congrats on the kill and sounds like you and the "boss" had a great time!

[jhjimbo]

Nice deer. Where were you camping?

[twoforks]

I live in the San Luis Valley in Colorado. I was camped on the western side of Mt. Blanca.

[FirstBubba]

Awesome country!
I lived in Pagosa Spgs one winter! That was enough for this flatlander! LOL!
The winter of '83-'84 I witnessed a total accumulated snowfall of 869 inches!
We didn't see thawed ground until late May!

[Montana]

Judging the exact age is very difficult. I take several things into account: tooth wear which is an inexact science. Body size and shape, a sagging belly and back usually denotes a deer with some age upon him. Congrats on the buck, hope my two cents was helpful.

[jhjimbo]

twoforkes,
I had an invitation to hunt north of Durango several years ago. The cabin was around 5,000'.
Unfortunately I regret I could not make it happen at that time.